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RUSSELL  SAGE 
FOUNDATION 


REPORT  ON  THE  DESIRABILITY  OF 
ESTABLISHING  AN  EMPLOYMENT 
BUREAU  IN  THE  CITY  OF  NEW  YORK 


By  EDWARD  T.  DEVINE 


SCHIFF  PROFESSOR  OF  SOCIAL  ECONOMY,  COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY, 
GENERAL  SECRETARY  OF  CHARITY  ORGANIZATION  SOCIETY  OF  THE 
*ff  CITY  OF  NEW  YORK 


PRINTED  PRIVATELY 

NEW  YORK 
CHARITIES  PUBLICATION 
COMMITTEE 
MCMIX 


09 


p5 


Copyright,  1909,  by 
The  Russell  Sage  Foundation 


WM.  F.  FELL  COMPANY 
Electrotypbrs  and  Printers 
1120-24  Sansom  Street 
Philadelphia,  Pa. 


Report  on  the  Desirability  of  Establishing 
Employment  Bureau  in  the  City 
of  New  York 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 


On  October  27,  1908,  Mr.  Jacob  H.  Setoff,  who  had  previously 
suggested  on  several  occasions  the  establishment  of  an  unofficial 
employment  bureau  on  a  business  basis,  definitely  proposed  that 
the  Charity  Organization  Society  should  invite  to  a  conference 
several  gentlemen  who  might  be  interested  in  the  plan,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  securing  their  co-operation  and  the  necessary  financial 
support.  The  President  and  General  Secretary  of  the  Society 
conferred  with  Mr.  Schiff  in  regard  to  the  matter  on  two  occasions, 
Mr.  Cyrus  L.  Sulzberger,  President  of  the  United  Hebrew  Charities, 
being  present  at  the  second  conference.  Mr.  SchifT's  proposition 
submitted  in  writing  at  this  conference  was  as  follows: 

The  proposition  is  to  organize  in  the  City  of  New  York  an  Em- 
ployment Bureau  under  a  board  of  trustees  composed  of  experienced 
men,  preferentially  from  the  mercantile  and  industrial  classes. 

The  Bureau  should  be  placed  under  a  manager  of  great  execu- 
tive ability,  with  two  or  three  assistants,  the  latter  to  be  thoroughly 
conversant  with  the  classes  and  their  peculiarities  which  compose 
New  York  City's  working  population. 

The  Bureau  is  to  establish  an  organization  covering  all  sections 
of  the  United  States,  so  that  it  shall  be  in  immediate  and  constant 
touch  with  requirements  for  labor  and  employment  wherever  such 
may  exist,  but  its  benefits  are  to  accrue  primarily  to  the  unemployed 
of  the  City  of  New  York. 

The  Bureau  is  to  charge  a  reasonable  fee  to  the  employer  for 
the  procuring  of  labor,  for  which  the  latter  may  reimburse  himself, 
gradually,  if  this  is  deemed  well,  from  the  wages  of  the  employee. 
It  is  hoped  that  by  this  the  Bureau  will  in  time  become  self-sup- 
porting; but  to  assure  its  establishment  and  maintenance  for  a 
number  of  years,  until  it  shall  have  become  self-supporting,  a 
working  fund  of  $100,000  ought  to  be  assured  at  the  outset. 

It  was  the  opinion  of  Mr.  de  Forest,  in  which  view  the  others 

3 


4 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


present  concurred,  that  before  calling  such  a  meeting  there  should 
be  a  careful  examination  of  the  need  for  such  a  bureau  and  inquiry 
into  the  reasons  for  the  discontinuance  of  the  Free  State  Employ- 
ment Bureau,  the  Cooper  Union  Labor  Bureau,  and  other  similar 
agencies  which  under  various  auspices  have  attempted  to  deal 
with  the  same  problem,  and,  if  it  is  found  expedient  to  recommend 
that  a  bureau  be  established,  that  a  somewhat  fuller  statement 
should  be  made  of  the  lines  on  which  the  proposed  bureau  is  to  be 
conducted. 

Mr.  de  Forest  offered  on  behalf  of  the  Russell  Sage  Foundation 
to  meet  any  necessary  expense  of  such  a  preliminary  inquiry,  and 
the  undersigned  was  requested  to  undertake  the  preparation  of  the 
report. 

Although  the  Employment  Bureau  is  not  intended  as  an  emer- 
gency measure  to  deal  with  an  existing  temporary  situation,  it  was 
thought  to  be  desirable  to  reach  a  conclusion  in  time  to  permit  the 
undertaking  of  the  enterprise  during  the  present  winter,  if  it  is 
decided  that  it  is  to  be  undertaken  at  all.  For  this  reason  the  in- 
quiry has  been  made  in  the  briefest  possible  time  and  has  rigidly 
excluded  everything  which  does  not  directly  bear  upon  the  im- 
mediate question  in  hand,  namely,  whether  it  is  desirable  to  estab- 
lish a  bureau  substantially  on  the  lines  indicated  in  Mr.  Schiflf's 
memorandum. 


THE  NEED  FOR  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU 

That  there  are  in  New  York  City  in  good  times  as  well  as  in 
periods  of  depression  a  very  considerable  number  of  employable 
persons  who  need  work  who  are  not  actually  employed,  may  be 
taken  for  granted.  Immigration,  migration  from  other  communi- 
ties, irregularity  in  building  operations  and  in  other  industries, 
and  the  seasonal  character  of  many  trades,  are  causes  which  oper- 
ate in  all  communities,  but  in  New  York  City  in  a  wholly  extra- 
ordinary degree.  Besides  such  causes  affecting  large  masses  of 
people,  individuals,  of  whom  there  is  a  large  number  in  the 
aggregate,  lose  much,  to  them,  valuable  time  in  finding  work  after 
illness,  or  when  from  any  other  cause  they  have  been  compelled 
to  give  up  their  work.  For  our  present  purpose  it  has  not  been 
thought  necessary  to  make  any  estimate  of  the  unemployed. 
Common  observation  and  the  testimony  of  trade  unions,  charitable 
societies,  and  the  daily  press  sufficiently  establish  the  fact  that  in 
normal  years  the  total  number  who  lose  a  substantial  part  of  the 
working  year  is  very  considerable,  and  that  in  every  depression, 
however  local  or  temporary,  the  number  is  sufficiently  large  to 
become  a  matter  of  grave  concern. 

The  question  which  is  pertinent  and  important  is  whether  the 
unemployed  are  so  (i)  because  they  are  unemployable,  (2)  because 
there  is  no  work  to  be  had,  or  (3)  because  of  mal-adjustment,  which 
an  efficient  employment  bureau  could  at  least  to  some  extent  over- 
come. It  is  obvious  that  if  they  are  unemployed  because  they  are 
unemployable,  the  employment  bureau  is  no  remedy.  The  only 
adequate  remedy  for  a  lack  of  efficiency  would  be  education  and 
training.  If,  again,  they  are  unemployed  because  of  a  real  and 
permanent  surplus  of  supply  over  the  demand  for  labor,  it  is  plain 
that  an  employment  bureau  could  not  remedy  the  difficulty.  The 

5 


6 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


bureau  does  not  directly  create  opportunities  for  work,  and  its 
success  will  therefore  depend  on  the  possibility  of  rinding  it.  In 
so  far,  however,  as  the  lack  of  employment  is  due  to  mal-adjust- 
ment,  that  is  to  the  inability  of  people  who  want  work  to  get  quickly 
into  contact  with  opportunities  which  exist  and  to  which  there  are 
no  other  equally  appropriate  means  of  access,  the  employment 
bureau  will  be  justified.  This  mal-adjustment  between  labor  and 
opportunities  for  labor  may  either  be  local,  i.  e.,  within  the  commun- 
ity itself,  or  it  may  be  as  between  communities.  That  is,  if  there 
is  an  actual  surplus  of  labor  in  New  York  City  there  may  still  be  a 
deficiency  in  other  towns  or  cities,  or  on  farms  in  New  York  or 
other  states,  and  the  employment  bureau  may  therefore  find  a 
field  for  usefulness  in  equalizing  these  conditions  as  between 
communities. 

The  time  at  our  disposal  has  not  permitted  an  original  investiga- 
tion of  the  extent  to  which  there  is  an  unfilled  demand  for  labor, 
either  in  New  York  City  or  in  other  communities,  nor,  even  had 
there  been  more  time,  would  the  present  be  a  favorable  period  for 
such  an  investigation.  I  have,  however,  addressed  a  careful  letter 
of  inquiry  to  about  thirty  persons  who  would  be  in  position  to  give 
definite  information  on  these  points,  if  it  were  to  be  had,  and  whose 
opinions  at  least  would  be  worthy  of  special  consideration.  The 
most  striking  fact  about  the  replies  to  these  inquiries  is  the  complete 
demonstration  that  they  give  that  there  is  no  definite  information 
on  these  matters  and  that  the  views  of  those  who  have  evidently 
considered  them  most  carefully  are  apt  to  be  diametrically  opposed. 
Professor  Edward  A.  Ross,  for  example,  of  the  University  of  Wis- 
consin, has  "a  growing  impression  that  local  labor  markets  are 
not  sections  or  provinces  of  a  general  labor  market,  but  markets 
of  a  considerable  individuality, "  while  Professor  John  R.  Commons, 
of  the  same  institution,  referring  to  present  conditions,  says 
that  "the  depression  in  industry  and  resulting  unemployment  is 
general  throughout  the  country";  and  the  only  ground  on  which 
it  appears  to  him  that  it  would  be  worth  while  to  establish  such 


THE  NEED 


7 


an  employment  bureau  is  as  a  model  for  other  employment 
bureaus,  and  as  a  means  of  driving  out  the  unreliable  ones.  He 
assumes  "that  the  existing  bureaus  are  adequate  to  make  the  trans- 
fers and  the  interchanges  needed  for  those  employers  who  actually 
are  looking  for  workmen." 

There  is,  however,  a  general  consensus  of  opinion  among 
economists  and  authorities  on  labor  problems  that  even  in  periods 
of  active  trade  there  is  by  no  means  a  complete  adjustment  between 
seekers  after  work  and  opportunities  for  employment  even  within 
the  city.  Professor  H.  R.  Seager  summarizes  the  cause  of  this 
mal-adjustment  as  follows: 

(1)  Irregular  employment  in  many  trades: 

(2)  The  rise  and  fall  of  particular  employing  firms  causing  a 

constant  shifting  of  employees  from  employer  to  employer : 

(3)  Immigration  and  the  unadjusted  immigrant  worker  re- 

sulting from  it : 

(4)  The  absence  of  any  satisfactory  agency  or  agencies  for 

properly  classifying  workmen  in  search  of  employment 
so  that  employers  can  be  relieved  in  part  of  the  task  of 
trying  out  new  hands. 
The  contrary  view  of  Dr.  A.  F.  Weber,  chief  statistician  of 
the  New  York  Public  Service  Commission,  speaking  from  an 
experience  gained  in  part  in  the  New  York  Labor  Department, 
should  be  recorded : 

"  As  to  local  mal-adjustment  of  demand  and  supply  in  the  labor 
market,  I  should  be  disposed  to  say  that  the  existing  agencies  and 
methods  do  on  the  whole  meet  the  requirements  of  the  situation; 
that  is  to  say,  in  a  period  of  normal  activity  there  are  relatively  few 
workers  without  employment  at  a  time  when  employers  are  seek- 
ing help  of  the  same  grade  or  class.  There  is  much  room  for  im- 
provement in  the  methods  of  the  private  employment  offices,  which 
may  be  obtained  through  more  careful  public  regulation  and 
possibly  through  the  example  of  a  well  endowed  bureau,  but  that 
the  latter  could  find  local  situations  for  the  unemployed  in  any  con- 
siderable numbers  to  me  seems  doubtful." 


8 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


On  the  other  hand,  Mr.  Robert  A.  Woods  of  South  End  House, 
Boston,  writes  that  he  has  known  of  many  instances  in  which  the 
evidence  of  mal-adjustment  in  the  matter  of  employment  was  con- 
vincing, and  he  thinks  that  there  cannot  be  any  doubt  that  employ- 
ers and  workmen  both  lose  a  great  deal  of  time  and  meet  with  much 
embarrassment  which  an  employment  bureau  could  remedy  if  it 
went  at  its  work  with  something  of  the  scope  and  detailed  accuracy 
of  the  weather  and  crop  reports. 

Professor  Frank  A.  Fetter  of  Cornell  University  is  led  by 
general  considerations,  in  the  absence  of  exact  figures,  to  the  belief 
that  unemployment  is  to  a  considerable  degree  due  to  mal-adjust- 
ment. 

Professor  E.  L.  Bogart  of  Princeton  holds  the  same  view,  and 
adds  that  the  lack  of  adjustment  differs  greatly  in  different  branches 
of  labor. 

Professor  J.  B.  Clark  of  Columbia  holds  emphatically  the 
view  that  loss  of  employment  by  large  bodies  of  men  personally  fit 
for  it  is  invariably  due  to  mal-adjustment,  but  admits  that  the  re- 
arrangement may  be  too  extensive  to  be  made  within  the  neigh- 
borhood within  which  the  men  reside. 

Mr.  Sidney  Webb,  the  historian  of  the  trade  union  movement 
in  England,  writes  that  "unemployment  in  large  cities  can  only 
in  a  restricted  sense  be  said  to  be  caused  to  any  great  extent  by  the 
mere  failure  of  employers  to  find  workmen  or  of  workmen  to  find 
employers.  They  do  find  each  other  now,  even  in  the  worst  of 
times,  though  only  after  some  delay.  If  there  were  no  unemploy- 
ment, in  the  sense  of  there  being  exactly  as  many  vacancies  as  there 
were  men  to  fill  them,  there  would  still  be  a  certain  proportion  of 
time  lost  in  shifting  situations.  This,  even  if  no  more  than  one 
day  in  each  case,  would  appear  in  the  statistics  as  a  percentage  of 
men  unemployed.  Experience  of  the  best  organized  trades  in 
England,  at  the  very  busiest  of  times,  rather  points  to  the  fact  that 
minimum  of  unemployment,  if  it  can  be  so  called,  due  to  time  lost 
in  shifting  from  job  to  job,  and  analogous  causes,  may  amount  to 


THE  NEED 


9 


something  like  one  per  cent  of  the  whole  of  the  working-class 
population,  indicating  an  average  loss,  from  this  cause  alone,  in 
the  best  of  times,  of  three  days  per  annum." 

Turning  to  mal-adjustment  as  between  communities,  practi- 
cally all  differences  of  opinion  disappear.  Even  Professor  Com- 
mons, whose  opinion  concerning  the  general  character  of  the  pres- 
ent industrial  depression  is  quoted  above,  admits  that  if  the  Bureau 
had  capable  agents  in  the  several  cities  to  which  surplus  labor  is 
sent,  and  these  agents  are  able  to  thoroughly  master  the  local  situa- 
tion and  get  beneath  the  representations  both  of  employers  seeking 
cheap  labor  and  trade  unionists  hostile  to  imported  labor,  it  might 
be  possible  to  avoid  the  difficulties  to  which  he  refers,  although  he 
thinks  that  the  expense  of  securing  this  kind  of  competent  help 
would  be  so  great  that  it  is  impracticable. 

All  others  from  whom  opinions  have  been  obtained,  economists, 
employers,  trade  unionists,  social  workers,  and  government  and 
state  officials  who  have  had  to  deal  with  labor  questions,  are  firmly 
convinced  that  surplus  labor  is  a  feature  of  congested  communities 
and  not  a  general  phenomenon,  that  in  ordinary  times  an  urgent 
demand  for  both  skilled  and  unskilled  labor  may  exist,  and  does 
exist,  in  many  communities  at  the  very  moment  when  the  unem- 
ployed are  congregating  in  other  communities,  and  especially  that 
labor  is  needed  at  remunerative  wages  on  farms  at  the  very  time 
when  the  already  overcrowded  cities  are  increasing  in  population. 

The  conclusion  to  which  I  am  forced  to  come  from  a  painstak- 
ing examination  of  all  of  the  data  on  this  subject  available  in  print, 
and  from  correspondence  and  personal  conference  with  those 
whom  I  have  thought  most  competent  to  advise  on  the  subject,  is 
that  there  is  a  need  at  all  times,  and  in  periods  of  even  slight  de- 
pression a  very  urgent  need,  of  an  efficient  system  of  bringing  to- 
gether as  quickly  as  possible  those  who  are  seeking  work  and  those 
who  are  seeking  workers.  For  the  reason  suggested  by  Mr.  Sidney 
Webb,  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  such  an  agency  would  actually 
increase  to  an  appreciable  extent  the  effective  demand  for  workers. 


IO  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

Whether  such  an  agency  is  the  Employment  Bureau  which  we  are 
considering,  or  the  system  of  labor  exchanges  advocated  for  Eng- 
land, we  may  be  equally  confident  that  they  would,  in  Mr.  Webb's 
language,  "not  only  greatly  increase  the  worker's  chances  of  im- 
proving his  or  her  position,  greatly  lessen  the  time  lost  between 
job  and  job,  greatly  diminish  the  wearing  anxiety  of  looking  for 
work,  and  greatly  facilitate  the  employer's  getting  all  the  labor  he 
can  profitably  employ.  It  would  not  only  increase  the  mobility 
of  labor,  but  would  actually  increase  the  aggregate  volume  of  de- 
mand, to  the  extent  of  the  opportunities  for  profitable  employ- 
ment that  the  employer  now  lets  slip  because  he  can't  get  just  what 
he  wants  when  he  wants  it." 

I  have  dwelt  upon  this  aspect  of  the  inquiry  at  length  because, 
as  Dr.  J.  H.  Hollander  of  Johns  Hopkins  University  pointed  out  in 
a  personal  conversation,  it  is  the  crucial  and  fundamental  point 
to  be  considered.  If  it  is  established,  or  if  there  is  reason  to  believe 
that  there  is  such  failure  of  adjustment  resulting  in  a  considerable 
addition  at  any  one  time  to  the  total  number  of  the  unemployed, 
then  there  is  no  doubt  of  the  necessity  to  meet  this  need,  and  the 
only  questions  are  whether  it  is  sufficiently  met  by  other  existing 
agencies,  and  whether  it  can  be  better  met  by  some  different  type 
of  agency  from  that  which  is  proposed.  It  is  not  necessary  to  in- 
quire whether  the  number  of  the  unemployed  at  present  is  ten 
thousand  or  one  hundred  thousand.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the 
number  is  large  enough  and  the  distress  and  hardship  involved  are 
great  enough  to  lead  to  prompt  and  energetic  action  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  some  suitable  means  of  dealing  with  the  problem.  It 
may  be  pointed  out  also  that  the  distress  and  hardship  are  by  no 
means  measured  by  the  number  who  would  register  themselves 
in  any  public  or  official  way  as  unemployed.  Besides  those  who 
would  thus  appear,  there  are  many  who  are  irregularly  employed, 
or  who  accept  employment  at  lower  wages  than  they  are  capable  of 
earning  or  whose  particular  place  and  kind  of  work  do  not  fully 
utilize  their  powers  and  capacities.    While  some  of  this  is  no 


THE  NEED 


II 


doubt  inevitable,  it  remains  true  that  an  employment  bureau  could 
help  many  individuals  to  avoid  these  hardships  and  could  place 
them  in  positions  where  society  would  get  a  better  return  from 
them. 

The  proposed  Employment  Bureau  would  certainly  be  one 
means,  and  as  I  shall  hereafter  show,  probably  the  best  means,  of 
meeting  this  great  and  permanent  need  by  mediating  between  work 
and  workers  in  that  large  number  of  instances  for  which  no  other 
especially  appropriate  means  of  communication  has  been  estab- 
lished. 


IS  THE  NEED  MET  BY  EXISTING  INSTITUTIONS? 

I  have  not  thought  it  necessary  to  make 
Commercial       an  independent  investigation  of  the  existing 
Employment       commercial  agencies  for  the  reason  that 
Agencies         numerous  investigations  have   been  made, 
and  one,  which  is  official  and  doubtless 
exceptionally  thorough,  is  in  progress  at  this  writing  under  the 
direction  of  the  New  York  State  Immigration  Commission.  More- 
over these  agencies  are  now  licensed  by  a  municipal  License  Bureau 
under  authority  of  state  law,  so  that  there  is  more  or  less  continu- 
ous supervision  of  them,  and  knowledge  of  their  methods  and 
results  is  readily  obtainable.    Unfortunately  there  is  no  room  for 
doubt  that  the  grave  abuses  in  these  bureaus  still  prevail,  although 
naturally  under  official  inspection  and  oversight  they  are  somewhat 
less  serious  than  in  former  years. 

Without  anticipating  the  findings  of  the  State  Commission 
it  is  within  bounds  to  say  that  the  private  commercial  agencies  do 
not  meet  the  need  which  has  been  described,  that  their  standards 
of  integrity  and  efficiency  are  low,  that  their  real  service  to  employ- 
ers and  employees,  except  in  a  few  occupations,  and  in  the  case  of 
a  few  well  conducted  agencies,  is  exceedingly  slight.  Operated 
primarily  for  profit,  they  have  a  constant  temptation  to  over-charge, 
to  misrepresent,  and  to  encourage  frequent  changes  for  the  sake  of 
the  fee.  Miss  Kellor  in  her  volume  "Out  of  Work"  estimated 
that  two-thirds  of  the  732  employment  agencies  visited  in  New 
York  at  the  time  of  her  study  five  years  ago  resorted  to  these  dis- 
honorable practices  and  fraudulent  methods;  that  a  very  small 
proportion  conducted  an  honorable  business  by  efficient  methods; 
and  a  somewhat  larger  number,  without  being  open  to  the  unre- 
served strictures  justly  made  on  the  lowest  class,  were  still  so  un- 
systematic and  inefficient  as  to  be  practically  worthless  from  the 


IS  THE  NEED  MET? 


13 


point  of  view  of  the  community.  Probably  because  of  prosecu- 
tions, revoked  licenses  and  official  scrutiny,  these  proportions  would 
be  somewhat  modified  at  present,*  but  with  the  exception  of  the 
few  agencies  constituting  Miss  Kellor's  first  class,  the  whole  business 
is  conducted  on  so  low  a  plane,  with  so  much  of  extortion,  misrepre- 
sentation, fraud,  and  direct  affiliation  with  immorality  and  vice,  as 
to  afford  one  of  the  strongest  arguments  for  the  establishment  of  an 
efficient  bureau  conducted  primarily  in  the  interests  of  working 
men  who  seek  its  services,  even  though  in  the  expectation  of  ob- 
taining a  moderate  return  upon  the  investment.  It  is  a  striking 
fact  that  the  principal  argument  for  the  establishment  of  free  state 
labor  bureaus  has  always  been  found  in  the  abuses  of  the  private 
commercial  agencies.  In  Europe  as  well  as  in  America  there  has 
even  been  a  demand  for  their  suppression  by  law,  and  though  this 
demand  has  come  from  a  minority  there  has  frequently  been  a 
sufficient  recognition  of  the  evils  in  them  to  secure  legislation  re- 
quiring them  to  be  licensed  and  supervised  by  the  state.  The 
situation  is  not  unlike  that  which  was  disclosed  by  the  investiga- 
tion made  by  the  Charity  Organization  Society  in  1892  regarding  the 
evils  of  the  old-time  unregulated  pawnshop.  It  was  then  decided 
that  in  addition  to  any  possible  police  supervision,  there  should  be 
brought  to  bear  upon  the  recognized  abuses  of  the  pawnshop  sys- 
tem the  pressure  of  competition  from  an  agency  which,  strictly  upon 
a  business  basis,  would  enter  their  own  field  and  demonstrate  that 
the  business  could  be  conducted  without  either  fraud  or  extortion. 

The  three  most  important  attempts  in 
Charitable  (Free)    New  York  City  to  conduct  a  free  employ- 
Employment      ment  bureau  under  the  auspices  of  philan- 
Bureaus         thropic  agencies  are  the  Cooper  Union  Labor 
Bureau,  conducted  by  the  New  York  Asso- 

*  It  is  the  opinion  of  the  Commissioner  of  the  License  Bureau  that  at  present 
60  per  cent  of  the  private  employment  agencies  do  an  honorable  and  straightforward 
business,  but  others  think  this  estimate  unduly  optimistic.  It  is  said  that  two-thirds 
of  those  whose  licenses  are  revoked  continue  in  business  under  another  name,  or  as 
nominal  employees  of  other  agencies. 


14 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


ciation  for  Improving  the  Condition  of  the  Poor,  the  Employment 
Bureau  of  the  United  Hebrew  Charities,  and  the  Employment 
Bureau  of  the  Society  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul.  All  of  these  have 
been  discontinued;  and  all  for  this  reason,  among  others,  that  the 
maintenance  of  a  general  employment  bureau  is  not  the  proper 
function  of  a  charitable  society,  and  that  from  the  point  of  view  of 
the  success  of  the  employment  bureau  the  connection  with  a  char- 
itable society  is  disadvantageous.  No  one  of  these  three  employ- 
ment bureaus  ever  had  at  its  command  an  adequate  working 
capital  or  a  superintendent  of  the  executive  capacity  suggested 
in  Mr.  Schiff's  memorandum,  and  it  can  hardly  be  said  that  the 
responsible  managers  of  any  of  them  ever  seriously  proposed  to 
themselves  that  their  employment  bureau  should  fill  the  large 
place  contemplated  in  the  present  plan.  If  the  underlying  ideas 
and  policies  of  these  bureaus  had  been  different,  if  they  had  had 
at  their  disposal  a  superintendent  and  staff  really  qualified  to  deal 
with  the  task  in  its  larger  social  aspects,  and  if  they  had  been  in 
position  to  invest  a  large  capital  in  creating  a  mechanism  and  es- 
tablishing proper  trade  relations,  it  is  possible  that  they  might 
have  overcome  the  handicap  of  connection  with  a  charitable  agency, 
however  serious  and  embarrassing  such  an  affiliation  may  be. 
Their  experience,  therefore,  while  instructive  and  illuminating  in 
many  respects,  cannot  be  regarded  as  conclusive. 

Still  less  importance  can  be  attached  to  such  free  agencies  as 
the  Free  Employment  Bureau  now  maintained  at  the  Barge  Office 
by  the  German  Society  and  the  Irish  Emigrant  Society.  This 
Bureau  deals  almost  exclusively  with  immigrants  from  the  British 
Islands  and  northwestern  Europe.  Its  patrons  are  chiefly  those 
who  have  been  accustomed  for  many  years  to  rely  upon  the  Bureau 
for  occasional  laborers,  and  the  volume  of  work  done  by  the  Bureau 
is  not  sufficiently  great  to  throw  very  much  light  on  the  need  for  a 
bureau  which  shall  seriously  attempt  to  overcome  the  lack  of  ad- 
justment between  work  and  workers  in  the  city.  Excellent  service 
has  been  rendered  for  many  years  by  this  Bureau  for  the  particular 


IS  THE  NEED  MET? 


15 


class  for  whom  it  is  intended,  and  there  need  of  course  be  no  attempt 
to  displace  it.  The  same  is  true  of  the  employment  bureaus  which 
deal  with  immigrants  of  other  nationalities,  like  the  Italians*  and 
Slavs,  and  by  the  various  religious  organizations,  which  do  in  the 
aggregate  a  considerable  amount  of  work  in  finding  employment 
for  their  beneficiaries,  although  as  a  rule  in  so  unsystematic  a 
manner  and  with  such  meagre  results  that  it  is  difficult  to  draw 
any  conclusions  from  their  experience. 

There  are  no  statistics  as  to  the  total  number  of  persons  who  are 
placed  in  employment  by  these  free  agencies.  Although  the  aggre- 
gate number  of  persons  affected  and  benefited  is  of  course  consider- 
able, the  fact  remains  that  the  work  of  these  bureaus  is  so  fragmen- 
tary, so  unco-ordinated  and  so  meagre  when  compared  with  the 
number  of  persons  in  the  city  who  require  such  assistance  that  it 
could  scarcely  be  seriously  maintained  that  they  meet  the  need. 
No  one  of  them  is  conducted  on  a  broad,  unsectarian  basis  with  a 
sufficient  clientele  of  employers  and  a  staff  sufficiently  well  organ- 
ized to  do  the  work  that  is  proposed. 

By  authority  of  act  of  Congress  of  Feb- 
Division  of  Infor-    ruary,  1907,  dealing  with  the  general  subject 
mation  of  the       of  immigration,  there  has  been  established 
Federal  Bureau  of    in  the  Bureau  of  Immigration  of  the  De- 
Immigration        partment  of  Commerce  and  Labor  a  special 
division  for  collecting  and  distributing  in- 
formation to  aliens  and  others  interested.    Mr.  T.  V.  Powderly, 
the  former  Commissioner- General  of  Immigration,  is  at  the  head 
of  this  Division,  and  on  the  theory  that  the  only  information  which 
is  of  interest  to  aliens  or  others  interested  is  information  con- 
cerning a  particular  job  suitable  to  their  own  individual  needs, 
the  Government  has  established  at  17  Pearl  Street  what  is  virtually, 
though  not  in  name,  an  employment  bureau.    In  co-operation  with 
the  Post  Office  Department  and  the  Department  of  Agriculture, 

*  Of  these  the  most  important  is  the  Labor  Information  Office  for  Italians, 
59  Lafayette  Street,  which  is  subsidized  by  the  Italian  Government. 


1 6  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

the  Division  of  Information  has  undertaken  a  very  comprehensive 
plan  for  obtaining  information  from  farmers  and  others  concerning 
their  need  for  workers,  and  places  this  information  at  the  disposal 
of  the  superintendent  of  the  local  bureau  for  the  benefit  of  aliens 
or  others  who  may  call  at  the  office.  Having  the  franking  privilege 
and  the  advantage  of  co-operation  with  other  Federal  bureaus,  it 
would  naturally  be  expected  that  such  an  employment  bureau 
might  develop  large  proportions  and  to  a  measurable  extent  supply 
the  need  for  such  service  as  we  have  been  considering.  There  are, 
however,  grave  reasons  to  doubt  whether  such  a  Federal  bureau 
can,  unaided,  appropriately  supply  the  need.  It  requires  a  liberal 
construction  of  the  act  to  justify  the  maintenance  of  a  thoroughly 
equipped  employment  bureau,  and  although  the  act  may  be  modi- 
fied to  meet  any  possible  obstacles  on  this  score,  it  is  difficult  to  see 
on  what  grounds  the  Bureau  of  Immigration  could  properly  con- 
duct an  employment  bureau  which  would  equally  be  at  the  service 
of  citizens  and  aliens.  If  it  should  become  a  general  labor  bureau 
for  all  alike  it  should  logically  be  transferred  to  the  Bureau  of 
Labor  or  conducted  as  an  independent  bureau  within  the  Depart- 
ment of  Commerce  and  Labor.  Independently,  however,  of  these 
considerations,  which  might  be  met  by  supplementary  legislation, 
there  are  objections  to  the  assumption  of  this  duty  by  any  branch  of 
the  Federal  Government.  It  is  impracticable  for  the  Government 
to  distinguish  between  citizens  who  would  seek  to  use  the  bureau 
as  employers,  and  yet  such  discrimination  is  necessary  if  applicants 
are  not  to  be  sent  at  unreasonably  low  wages  or  to  positions  where 
the  conditions  are  unsatisfactory.  Questions  arise  as  to  calls  from 
employers  on  the  occasion  of  strikes  or  lockouts,  and  even  when 
there  are  not  such  acute  disturbances,  there  would  often  be  reason 
to  anticipate  that  labor  was  being  engaged  in  anticipation  of  a 
lowering  of  wages  or  other  changes  adverse  to  the  interests  of  labor. 
A  voluntary  agency  could  properly  insist  upon  full  and  accurate 
knowledge  on  all  such  questions  before  undertaking  to  supply  a 
demand.    For  the  Government  to  do  so  would  be  to  invite  friction 


IS  THE  NEED  MET? 


17 


and  antagonism  which  might  have  very  regrettable  consequences. 
It  is  an  open  question  how  much  of  the  demand  for  agricultural 
labor  is  a  bona  fide  demand  for  efficient  labor  at  sufficient  wages, 
and  how  much  is  merely  a  demand  for  cheap  labor  at  low  wages, 
or  under  other  very  unfavorable  conditions.  The  same  is  true  of  a 
part  of  the  demand  for  labor  in  railway  construction,  and  other 
similar  occupations.  No  Government  official  should  ever  be  placed 
in  a  position  where  it  is  necessary  to  discriminate  between  citizens, 
who,  apparently  in  good  faith,  are  demanding  a  service  which  the 
Government  has  undertaken  to  supply.  Without  such  discrimina- 
tion, however,  an  employment  bureau  operating  on  a  large  scale 
over  a  large  territory  would  inevitably  become  merely  a  factor  in 
reducing  wages  and  lowering  standards  of  living.  If  a  generous 
response  to  inquiries  on  behalf  of  the  general  Government  means 
that  employers  are  seeking  immigrant  labor  because  it  is  cheap 
labor,  and  if  the  Government  by  advising  immigrants  to  accept  such 
offers  or  by  facilitating  their  acceptance  becomes  a  party  to  such 
lowering  of  standards,  it  may  easily  do  harm  which  would  vastly 
outweigh  the  services  given  in  finding  employment  for  a  given 
number  of  people.  This  is  a  danger  against  which  any  employ- 
ment bureau  should  take  ample  precautions,  but  it  will  be  easier 
and  more  practicable  for  a  voluntary,  unofficial  agency  to  take  such 
measures  than  for  any  branch  of  the  Federal  Government. 

If,  however,  the  actual  work  of  acting  as  intermediary  is 
assumed  by  a  voluntary  agency  properly  equipped  for  the  purpose, 
it  is  quite  possible  that  co-operation  between  such  an  agency  and 
the  Federal  Government  might  be  mutually  advantageous.  If 
the  Federal  Government  with  the  resources  at  its  command,  acting 
in  the  interests  of  employers  and  employees  alike,  and  in  the 
interests  of  citizens  and  aliens  whose  labor  is  really  in  demand, 
would  collect  such  information  as  is  apparently  contemplated  by 
the  Immigration  Law,  and  would  place  such  information  at  the 
disposal  of  reputable  voluntary  agencies  or  make  it  available  in 
some  suitable  way  to  the  general  public,  this  would  enormously 


i8 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


increase  the  usefulness  of  the  voluntary  bureau,  and  of  course 
precautions  could  be  taken  to  see  that  this  advantage  did  not 
accrue  to  any  one  who  might  exploit  it  merely  for  selfish  business 
purposes,  but  on  the  contrary  to  the  workers  and  thus  indirectly  to 
employers  and  to  the  community. 

After  conference  with  the  Secretary  of  the  Department  of 
Commerce  and  Labor  and  with  the  Chief  and  Assistant  Chief  of  the 
Division  of  Information,  and  with  the  Superintendent  of  the  local 
bureau,  as  well  as  with  the  Commissioner  of  Labor  and  many  others 
who  have  given  attention  to  the  subject,  I  am  convinced  that  while 
there  is  a  great  field  of  usefulness  for  the  Division  of  Information, 
it  is  not  and  cannot  wisely  become  an  effective  intermediary  be- 
tween workers  and  employment  to  an  extent  that  will  make  unnec- 
essary such  an  employment  bureau  as  is  under  consideration. 

_    ,  „      _  The  State  Department  of  Agriculture 

The  Labor  Bureau         ,    .  .  u  ,     *T  .     t>   i  t> 

St  t  conducts  in  its  branch  office  at  23  Park  Row, 

De  a  t  ent  of  ^or^         a  sPec^a^  Labor  Bureau  for 

*  .  the  purpose  of  supplying  farmers  of  the 

^  State  with  farm  hands  and  transplanting 

families  as  tenants  on  New  York  farms.  The  Assistant  Commis- 
sioner in  charge  of  this  office  will  report  to  the  Department  that  in 
the  past  fiscal  year  90  families  have  thus  been  sent  to  the  country, 
and  about  900  single  men  as  farm  laborers. 

The  Department  learns  of  these  opportunities  through  the 
Farmers'  Granges,  Institutes,  advertising  and  news  notices  in  the 
daily  papers,  and  by  correspondence.  The  primary  purpose  is 
to  help  the  farmers  of  the  state  to  find  the  labor  of  which,  especially 
for  certain  portions  of  the  year,  they  are  in  urgent  need.  The 
limitation  in  the  usefulness  of  this  plan  from  the  point  of  view  of 
the  unemployed  in  New  York  City  is  that  comparatively  few  of 
the  opportunities  are  for  work  during  the  entire  year,  the  wages 
are  as  a  rule  comparatively  low,  and  the  Bureau  naturally  restricts 
its  activities  to  this  state.  Nevertheless  the  principle  which  the 
Bureau  represents  is  sound,  and  in  connection  with  a  general 


IS  THE  NEED  MET? 


J9 


Employment  Bureau  its  services  could  be  greatly  extended.  It  is 
possible  that  this  Labor  Bureau  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture 
might  be  expanded  into  a  comprehensive  and  effective  plan  for 
transplanting  individuals  and  families  from  New  York  City  to 
the  country.  Whether,  if  it  is  developed  in  this  way,  it  should 
remain  a  branch  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  may  be  a 
question,  but  certainly  as  long  as  it  is  so  conducted  it  represents 
only  one  aspect,  although  a  very  important  aspect,  of  the  problem 
with  which  the  Employment  Bureau  would  attempt  to  deal. 
Neither  the  Division  of  Information  conducted  by  the  Federal 
Government  nor  the  Agricultural  Labor  Bureau  of  the  State 
Government  would  be  in  any  way  hampered  or  displaced  by  the 
Employment  Bureau,  but  both  could  and  doubtiess  would  co- 
operate with  it  to  the  mutual  advantage  of  all  concerned. 

It  is  sometimes  thought  that  the  cheap- 
Want  Advertise-  ening  of  daily  newspapers,  and  the  develop- 
ments ment  of  the  want  advertisements,  afford  a 
means  of  supplying  the  need  in  question. 
Such  advertisements  have,  of  course,  a  distinct  field  of  usefulness, 
although  one  perhaps  more  restricted  than  is  ordinarily  supposed. 
The  most  superficial  examination  of  the  want  columns  of  any 
newspaper  which  has  developed  this  feature  on  a  large  scale  dis- 
closes the  fact  that  many  of  those  which  are  nominally  for  help  are 
"fake"  advertisements,  that  is,  that  they  do  not  represent  a  bona 
fide  opportunity  for  employment  of  the  kind  indicated  in  the  head- 
ing. Many  others  are  intentionally  vague  and  misleading,  and 
frequently,  after  eliminating  such  padding,  an  exceedingly  small 
remnant  of  bona  fide  requests  for  help  remains.  The  system  at 
best  throws  entirely  upon  the  advertiser  the  responsibility  of 
sifting  out  from  among  the  replies  to  advertisements  the  one  which 
suits  his  needs.  To  ascertain  whether  advertisements  by  employers 
and  by  applicants  for  work  respectively  vary  in  accordance  with 
well  known  conditions  of  trade  activities  and  depression,  and  to 
get  some  idea  of  the  nature  of  the  "wants"  thus  advertised,  I  have 
had  a  careful  examination  made  of  the  want  columns  of  two  news- 


20 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


papers  in  New  York  City  on  selected  days  in  1902  and  1905, 
representing  what  may  be  considered  normal  conditions  of  trade, 
and  in  the  winter  of  1907-08,  covering  the  transitional  period 
from  the  activity  of  the  early  autumn  to  the  depression  of  the 
winter.  The  sharp  change  that  occurred  between  October  and 
November  in  1907  in  all  kinds  of  positions  and  especially  in  the 
skilled  trades,  is  very  clearly  reflected  in  the  advertising  columns. 

Detailed  tables  with  diagrams  and  a  full  report  covering  nearly 
40,000  classified  want  advertisements  from  New  York  papers  are 
to  be  found  in  an  Appendix.  This  study  of  New  York  news- 
papers is  supplemented  by  a  similar  examination  on  a  slightly 
different  plan  of  the  files  of  Chicago  newspapers. 

My  conclusion,  based  upon  personal  examination  of  want 
columns,  upon  this  detailed  examination  of  the  files  of  New  York 
and  Chicago  newspapers  on  certain  selected  days,  and  on  confer- 
ence with  others  who  have  been  in  the  habit  of  following  such 
advertisements  in  connection  with  the  work  of  the  Free  State 
Employment  Bureaus,  is  that  the  want  columns,  although  a  factor 
in  the  general  mediation  between  employers  and  employees  in 
clerical  occupations,  in  certain  kinds  of  miscellaneous  odd  jobs, 
and  in  some  of  the  skilled  trades,  do  not  by  any  means  meet  the 
entire  need,  and  that  the  question  of  their  usefulness  is  by  no 
means  to  be  ascertained  merely  by  measuring  the  space  which 
they  occupy  on  the  padded  page  of  many  newspapers.* 

*  It  is  possible  that  the  successful  operation  of  an  employment  bureau  which  has 
a  national  organization  for  securing  positions  might  have  an  appreciable  effect  on  the 
policy  of  publishing  articles  which  seriously  misrepresent  local  demands  for  labor. 
The  cruelty  involved  in  the  glowing  and  exaggerated  accounts  of  industrial  expan- 
sion, the  re-opening  of  mills,  the  demand  for  harvest  hands,  can  be  appreciated  only 
by  those  who  are  compelled  to  turn  away  applicants  for  work  attracted  from  a 
distance  by  such  articles  at  a  time  when  working  men  are  idle  in  the  very  locality 
thus  misrepresented.  Although  such  stories  have  no  direct  connection  with  want 
advertisements,  they  are  closely  akin  to  the  "fake"  advertisements  which  similarly 
mislead.  The  motive  may  be  entirely  different,  but  the  hardships  which  they  inflict 
upon  those  whom  they  mislead  are  similar.  In  this  connection  see  the  letter  in  the 
Appendix  (p.  91)  from  Frederick  L.  Smith,  of  Lansing,  Mich. 


IS  THE  NEED  MET? 


21 


At  my  request  the  Director  of  the  Bureau 
Trade  Unions  of  Social  Research  in  the  New  York  School 
of  Philanthropy  assigned  one  of  the  Fellows 
of  the  Bureau  to  the  task  of  interviewing  the  secretaries  of  a  number 
of  representative  trade  unions  to  ascertain  what  are  their  methods 
for  finding  work  for  their  unemployed  members,  and  incidentally 
to  obtain  their  views  as  to  the  desirability  of  establishing  an  em- 
ployment bureau  so  far  as  concerns  its  possible  usefulness  to 
their  own  members.  This  inquiry  was  supplemented  by  similar 
interviews  with  representative  employers,  with  the  officers  of 
associations  of  manufacturers  and  other  employers  and  with  rep- 
resentatives of  the  important  railways. 

It  appears  that  in  those  trades  which  are  completely  organized 
and  in  which  there  is  practically  no  non-union  labor,  the  union  is 
itself  the  ordinary  means  of  communication  between  employer  and 
employee.  The  business  agent  or  walking  delegate,  on  being 
notified  that  a  certain  number  of  men  are  wanted  for  any  particular 
job,  in  turn  notifies  the  unemployed  members  of  the  union  in  order 
of  priority.  This  applies,  however,  only  to  the  building  trades, 
the  newspaper  pressmen,  the  pattern-makers,  and  a  few  other 
highly  organized  trades.  In  general  the  system  of  finding  work 
for  unemployed  members  of  trade  unions  is  exceedingly  haphazard. 
An  out-of-work  list  or  book  is  usually  kept,  with  the  help  of  which 
men  are  sent  to  any  job  which  happens  to  be  reported  to  them. 
Sometimes  the  men  who  happen  to  be  at  the  union  headquarters 
at  the  time  when  a  call  is  received  are  sent.  In  other  cases  the  men 
are  notified  in  order  from  the  list,  or  in  some  instances  in  accordance 
with  their  fitness  for  the  position  which  is  to  be  filled.  Sometimes 
information  regarding  possible  employment  is  placed  on  a  black- 
board and  any  one  who  sees  the  notice  and  wishes  to  do  so  may 
respond. 

The  general  opinion  of  the  representatives  of  trade  unions 
interviewed  in  the  course  of  this  inquiry  appeared  to  be  that  their 
mechanism  was  not  sufficient  to  deal  with  the  situation  as  a  whole 


22 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


or  even  within  their  own  trades,  so  far  as  it  is  a  matter  of  distribut- 
ing labor  to  other  communities.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  co- 
operation of  union  labor  can  be  secured  in  carrying  out  the  plan  for 
an  employment  bureau,  if  that  is  desired,  and  it  would  seem  on 
many  accounts  to  be  very  desirable.  The  state  and  municipal 
Employment  Bureaus  of  Germany  and  other  European  countries 
which  are  most  successful  are  conducted  by  boards  of  managers 
on  which  both  employers  and  employees  are  represented.  Sus- 
picion and  hostility  are  thus  disarmed,  and  the  use  of  the  Bureau 
either  to  injure  or  unfairly  to  promote  the  interests  of  either  class 
is  prevented.  While  there  may  not  in  the  present  instance  be  the 
same  reasons  for  anticipating  such  hostility  or  actual  injury  to 
either  party  in  the  labor  contract,  there  are  obvious  reasons  why  a 
favorable  attitude  from  both  employers  and  employees  would  be 
most  advantageous. 

Interviews  with  employers  were  on  the  whole  rather  unsatis- 
factory because  of  the  indefinite  and  tentative  manner  in  which 
the  proposition  could  be  explained,  but  the  two  interesting  results 
of  such  interviews  are  first  that  there  would  be  no  lack  of  disposition 
to  use  the  services  of  the  Bureau  as  soon  as  it  was  shown  that  it 
was  in  position  to  do  its  work,  and  second  that  even  among  the  few 
whom  we  visited  there  were  some  who  had  reasons  of  their  own  for 
instant  hostility  to  any  plan  which  would  by  arrangement  with 
higher  officials  deprive  them  of  their  present  prerogatives  of  hiring 
labor.  One  service  which  the  Employment  Bureau  would  be  led 
to  undertake,  though  perhaps  not  at  the  beginning,  would  be  the 
investigation  of  conditions  under  which  contract  labor  is  engaged 
and  managed  on  some  of  the  railway  systems. 

There  are  no  doubt  still  to  be  found 
By  Individual      some  who  look  with  misgiving  on  any  plan 
Responsibility      for  helping  people  to  find  work,  even  though 
they  are  expected  directly  or  indirectly  to 
pay  for  the  service,  lest  the  feeling  of  personal  responsibility  should 
thereby  be  undermined.    Valid  objections  may  indeed  be  urged 


IS  THE  NEED  MET? 


23 


to  the  establishment  of  a  labor  colony  or  of  relief  work  on  this 
ground,  and,  as  we  have  already  seen,  the  free  services  of  an  em- 
ployment bureau  conducted  by  a  charitable  society  does  in  practice 
encounter  difficulties  of  this  kind.  A  bureau,  however,  conducted 
on  a  business  basis,  expecting  eventually  to  pay  reasonable  divi- 
dends on  the  capital  invested  in  it,  would  scarcely  be  open  to  this 
objection,  whether  fees  were  charged  to  employers  only,  to  em- 
ployees only,  or  to  both.  If  employers  are  in  such  need  of  help  that 
they  feel  warranted  in  engaging  the  services  of  the  Bureau  to  find 
workers,  certainly  the  latter  in  responding  to  such  calls  from  the 
Bureau  are  in  no  danger  of  deterioration  of  character  merely  be- 
cause they  make  such  response.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  workers 
themselves  pay  a  fee,  which  I  believe  on  the  whole  to  be  advisable, 
and  if  they  learn  to  insist  upon  getting  a  return  worth  the  fee  which 
they  pay,  they  have  not  only  avoided  the  danger  but  may  easily  in 
the  process  have  developed  a  higher  degree  of  personal  responsi- 
bility. What  is  proposed  is  not  a  paternalistic  assumption  of  re- 
sponsibility for  employees,  but  the  rendering  of  definite  economic 
service  in  return  for  suitable  compensation.  Workingmen  out  of  a 
job  may  now  look  to  their  unions  or  advertise  in  a  want  column,  or 
register  in  a  commercial  employment  agency,  or  tramp  about  from 
place  to  place  applying  personally  for  work.  It  is  the  last  method 
that  is  ordinarily  in  the  mind  of  those  who  favor  "  throwing  persons 
upon  their  own  responsibility"  in  the  matter  of  finding  work.  It 
is  the  time-honored  method  of  rinding  something  to  do,  but  it 
requires  no  argument  to  show  that  it  is  expensive,  time  consuming, 
physically  laborious,  and  mentally  depressing.  Any  man  out  of 
work  should  of  course  be  willing  to  resort  to  it  in  case  of  necessity, 
but  it  would  be  difficult  to  show  that  it  is  in  any  superior  or  more 
praiseworthy  degree  meeting  " one's  personal  responsibility"  than 
to  seek  work  in  any  one  of  the  three  other  methods.  To  patronize 
a  well  conducted  employment  bureau  which  gave  a  full  equivalent 
for  the  fee  charged — though  the  collection  of  the  fee  might  be 
postponed  until  wages  should  be  received — would  be  only  a  very 


24 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


sensible  and  commendable  manner  of  meeting  this  responsibility. 
The  dearth  of  such  agencies  and  the  lack  of  any  conducted  with  the 
motives  and  on  the  plans  under  consideration  is,  then,  only  an 
obstacle  in  the  way  of  educating  workingmen  to  meet  their  respon- 
sibility. 


CAN  THE  NEED  BE  MET  ON  ANY  OTHER  PLAN  THAN 
THAT  PROPOSED? 

It  would  perhaps  be  sufficient  to  recite 
Free  State  Employ-   the  bald  fact  that  New  York  State  has 

ment  Bureau  within  three  years  discontinued  a  Free  Em- 
ployment Bureau  "on  the  ground  that  it 
has  not  become  a  reliance  of  or  indispensable  to  any  particular 
group  of  unemployed,  that  such  discontinuance  can  be  effected 
without  detriment  to  the  interests  of  any  individual  or  group  of 
individuals,  and  that  the  functions  it  now  performs  can  be  as  well 
performed  by  private  agencies." 

As,  however,  it  has  been  suggested  that  the  Free  State  Employ- 
ment Bureau  might  advantageously  be  re-established,  and  as  it  is 
generally  believed  that  the  experiment  has  been  more  successful  in 
several  other  states,  I  have  thought  it  expedient  to  visit  personally 
the  Free  State  Employment  Bureaus  in  Boston,  Columbus, 
Cleveland,  Chicago,  Milwaukee  and  Minneapolis,  and  have 
obtained  such  information  concerning  these  and  other  state  and 
municipal  bureaus  as  is  contained  in  their  annual  reports  and  is 
available  in  the  United  States  Labor  Bureau  and  elsewhere. 
While  some  of  these  Bureaus  are  of  course  better  than  others, 
I  regret  to  report  that  so  far  as  I  can  ascertain  they  are  everywhere 
in  politics,  and  are  too  perfunctory  and  inefficient  in  their  methods 
to  become  factors  in  bringing  about  any  real  adjustment  between 
work  and  workers.  I  have  visited  one  private  commercial  agency 
in  a  western  city  which  has  obviously  done  more  work  in  finding 
remunerative  and  permanent,  although  largely  seasonal  employ- 
ment, than  all  of  the  Free  State  Employment  Bureaus  put  together; 
and  it  seems  actually  to  have  done  more  free  work,  i.  e.,  free  to 
employees,  than  the  three  branches  of  the  State  Employment 

as 


26 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


Bureau  in  the  state  in  which  it  is  located.  It  has,  moreover,  an 
equipment  and  system  by  the  side  of  which  the  best  managed  of 
the  State  Bureaus  makes  a  sorry  showing.  Purely  for  business 
reasons  its  statistics  are  better  kept,  its  information  concerning 
contracts  more  accurate  and  reliable,  and  the  interest  of  its  man- 
agers and  employees  in  its  beneficiaries  more  in  evidence  than  in 
the  case  of  the  best  managed  State  Bureaus  which  I  had  the 
pleasure  to  visit.  I  have  no  reason  to  consider  that  this  private 
agency  is  greatly  superior  to  others  which  can  be  found  in  New 
York  and  elsewhere.  The  difference  is  primarily  one  of  efficient 
administration  and  of  adequacy  of  compensation  for  the  head  of 
the  Bureau.  The  salary  paid  to  the  Superintendent  of  a  Free 
State  Bureau  is  $1200  or  less — usually  less.  He  has  often  only 
one  assistant,  and  sometimes  none.  No  funds  are  ordinarily 
available  for  advertising,  for  the  sending  of  agents  into  the  field, 
for  interpreters  to  look  after  the  interests  of  special  groups  of 
immigrants  who  do  not  speak  English,  or  even,  as  a  rule,  for  the 
keeping  of  adequate  records.  Judging  from  the  experience  of 
New  York  and  other  states,  these  fundamental  defects  are  not 
easily  to  be  overcome.  The  peculiar  relation  between  organized 
labor  and  the  State  Employment  Bureau  and  the  temptation  to 
utilize  the  Bureau  merely  to  make  it  appear  that  the  administra- 
tion of  the  day  is  "doing  something  for  labor"  are  apparently 
ineradicable  obstacles  in  the  way  of  efficient  service.  The  Mu- 
nicipal Bureaus  in  Duluth  and  Seattle  appear  to  be  free  from  the 
defects  of  the  State  Bureaus,  and  it  would  be  easy  to  make  favorable 
comment  on  particular  features  of  certain  of  the  Bureaus,  especially 
those  in  Massachusetts  and  Wisconsin,  but  I  have  been  unable 
to  find  in  any  of  these  State  Bureaus  as  now  conducted  warrant 
for  the  belief  that  the  re-establishment  of  the  New  York  State 
Bureau  would  be  advisable  in  itself  or  that  it  would  in  any  ap- 
preciable degree  serve  the  purpose  of  giving  substantial  and 
practical  aid  to  the  community  in  solving  the  problem  which  we 
have  in  mind. 


OTHER  PLANS 


27 


Every  step  in  advance  in  the  elimination 
Further  Regulation   of  fraud  and  extortion  in  the  ordinary 
of  Commercial       commercial   agencies   only   increases  the 
Agencies  need  of  a  general  agency  which  shall  be  in 

position  to  command  public  confidence  and 
shall  unquestionably  be  free  from  the  abuses  which  state  regula- 
tion is  intended  to  prevent.  At  however  high  a  price  and  with 
whatever  fraudulent  practices,  these  agencies,  even  the  disreputable 
ones,  do  to  some  extent  serve  the  purpose  of  an  intermediary. 
To  deprive  them  of  their  license  or  to  maintain  over  them  such  an 
oversight  as  puts  them  practically  out  of  business,  is  to  impose 
some  injury  along  with  the  undoubted  benefit.  The  high-grade 
agencies  already  in  existence  might  conceivably  fill  the  gap  thus 
created  except  that  for  the  most  part  they  have  an  entirely  different 
kind  of  patronage,  and  have  not  developed  the  mechanism  for  deal- 
ing with  the  people  who  have  been  the  patrons  and  too  often  the 
victims  of  the  less  reputable  agencies.  Stricter  regulation  and 
supervision,  therefore,  while  desirable  on  their  own  account,  do 
not  lessen  the  increasing  need  for  an  agency  which  will  be  con- 
ducted primarily  for  the  good  that  it  will  do  rather  than  for  the 
profits  that  it  can  earn. 

Fortunately  there  is  no  general  agitation 
Labor  Colonies         in  this  country  at  present  for  the  establish- 
and  Public  ment  of  labor  colonies  or  relief  works 

Relief  Works  for  the  unemployed.    The  proposed  penal 

colony  for  the  open-air  custodial  care  of 
vagrants,  inebriates,  and  others  who  require  such  special  treatment, 
has  of  course  nothing  to  do  with  our  present  problem.  The 
objections  to  the  establishment  of  relief  work  organized  not 
because  the  undertaking  is  justified  on  its  own  account,  but  for 
the  sake  of  giving  employment,  are  so  obvious  and  so  familiar 
that  they  need  not  here  be  recapitulated.  Even  those  who  advo- 
cate them  would  certainly  prefer  that  as  an  earlier  intermediate 
step  employment  should  be  found  in  ordinary  occupations  under 


28 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


ordinary  economic  conditions  for  as  many  as  possible.  To  use 
a  forcible  figure  originally  applied  to  a  different  proposition,  the 
opening  of  public  relief  works  as  a  means  of  helping  the  unemployed 
is  like  tying  on  the  flowers,  while  the  opening  of  an  employment 
bureau  on  a  business  basis  is  like  watering  the  plant. 


RECOMMENDATIONS 

I  have  approached  this  inquiry  with  an  entirely  open  mind, 
with  no  prejudice  against  a  State  Bureau  or  in  favor  of  any  Bureau 
at  all  if  it  were  found  not  to  be  needed.  The  plan  for  distributing 
immigrants  by  the  Federal  Government  and  of  transferring  city 
residents  to  the  farms  of  New  York  through  the  State  Department 
of  Agriculture  have  both  been  considered,  with  every  inclination 
to  recommend  that  they  are  sufficient  for  the  purpose  if  this  were 
found  to  be  the  fact. 

As  a  result  of  a  month's  careful  study  of  the  whole  subject, 
involving  a  considerable  amount  of  reading,  visits  to  several 
states  and  to  the  national  capital,  and  extended  correspondence, 
the  co-operation  of  the  Bureau  of  Social  Research,  and  numerous 
personal  interviews,  especially  in  regard  to  the  reasons  for  the 
failure  of  experiments  which  have  been  made  in  New  York  City, 
I  am  of  the  opinion  that  the  establishment  of  an  Employment 
Bureau  substantially  on  the  lines  indicated  in  Mr.  Scruffs  memor- 
andum is  desirable,  that  the  need  for  such  a  Bureau  is  very  great, 
that  it  is  not  met  by  other  existing  agencies,  and  cannot  be  met 
by  other  plans  more  effectively  or  economically  than  by  that 
proposed. 

The  only  serious  modification  which  I  would  recommend  is 
that  a  fee  should  be  charged  to  employees  rather  than  to  employers, 
unless  it  is  found  practicable  and  advisable  to  charge  a  fee  to  both. 
I  believe  that  eventually  the  Bureau  could  make  such  a  position 
for  itself  that  large  employers  would  be  willing  to  make  contracts 
with  it,  perhaps  on  an  annual  basis,  which  would  be  mutually 
advantageous,  but  I  doubt  the  wisdom  of  charging  a  specific  fee 
for  each  employee  furnished,  especially  in  the  initial  stages  of  the 
experiment.    I  have  no  doubt,  however,  that  from  the  very  be- 

29 


30  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

ginning  it  could  be  made  apparent  to  employees  that  in  paying  a 
reasonable  fee  for  the  services  of  the  Bureau  they  would  be  making 
a  good  investment.  I  am  much  impressed  by  the  reasons  given 
for  this  view  by  Mr.  Herbert  S.  Brown  in  his  communication 
included  in  Appendix  II.  If  employers  were  charged  and  not 
employees,  my  fear  would  be  that  the  tendency  of  the  Bureau 
would  be  to  serve  the  interests  of  employers,  rather  than  those  of 
employees.  It  is  of  course  our  desire  that  it  should  serve  both, 
and  primarily  the  community. 

There  is  complete  unanimity  of  opinion  that  the  success  of  the 
whole  enterprise  will  depend  upon  the  capacity  of  its  executive 
officer,  although  it  is  also  conceivable  that  a  board  of  trustees  or 
managers  might  be  created  that  would  contribute  very  materially 
to  its  success.  My  suggestion  would  be  that  the  board  should  con- 
sist of  not  more  than  nine  members,  and  that  among  them  there 
should  be  at  least  one  labor  representative,  and  one  social  worker 
or  university-  instructor  interested  in  the  problem  on  the  scientific 
side.  This  suggestion  is  made  simply  in  the  interest  of  efficiency 
and  public  usefulness,  but  if  those  who  provide  the  capital  feel 
that  they  should  exercise  exclusive  control  over  the  Bureau,  some 
part  of  the  advantage  which  I  have  in  mind  might  be  secured  by 
creating  an  advisor}7  board  with  an  even  larger  representation  of 
such  elements  as  I  have  proposed  for  the  board  of  managers. 

The  general  plan  on  which  the  Bureau  should  be  conducted 
has  perhaps  already  been  sufficiently  indicated.  Recapitulating, 
however,  for  the  sake  of  clearness,  I  would  recommend : 

That  there  be  organized  in  the  City  of  New  York  an  Employ- 
ment Bureau  under  a  board  of  trustees  composed  of  experienced 
men  representing  the  mercantile,  academic,  philanthropic  and 
industrial  classes,  each  member  of  the  board,  however,  being 
selected  not  so  much  in  his  representative  capacity  as  because  of 
his  probable  usefulness  as  an  active  working  member  of  the 
board.  The  control  should  of  course  remain  with  those  who 
furnish  the  working  funds,  but  need  not  be  exclusively  limited  to 
them. 


RECOMMENDATIONS 


31 


The  Bureau  should  be  placed  under  a  manager  of  great  execu- 
tive ability,  with  the  necessary  number  of  assistants,  and  the 
staff  should  be  thoroughly  conversant  with  the  peculiarities  of  the 
various  groups  that  compose  New  York  City's  working  population. 
Herein  lies  the  special  strength  of  the  small  and  often  badly  con- 
ducted employment  agencies,  that  those  who  manage  them  really 
know  their  people.  The  Employment  Bureau  cannot  be  expected 
to  succeed  unless  it  can  secure  similar  intimate  knowledge  of  the 
peculiarities,  and  especially  of  the  valuable  qualities  of  particular 
groups.  It  would  be  necessary  to  have  interpreters,  men  to 
take  charge  of  gangs  in  transit,  and  to  perform  virtually  the  func- 
tions now  exercised  by  the  padroni — although  without  the  abuses 
of  that  system. 

The  Bureau  should  establish  an  organization  covering  all  sec- 
tions of  the  United  States,  so  that  it  shall  be  in  immediate  and 
constant  touch  with  requirements  for  labor  and  employment 
wherever  such  may  exist,  but  its  benefits  should  accrue  primarily 
to  the  unemployed  of  the  City  of  New  York.  It  may  not  be  neces- 
sary to  maintain  agencies  permanently  in  particular  localities  out- 
side of  New  York,  although  it  might  be  advisable  to  have  one  or 
two  branch  headquarters.  For  the  most  part  the  agents  in  the 
field  would  be  moving  from  place  to  place,  establishing  relations 
with  employers,  looking  after  the  interests  of  men  who  had  been 
sent  to  work,  and  ascertaining  when  they  would  be  free  from 
particular  engagements,  so  that  there  would  be  little  loss  of  time 
in  transferring  them  to  other  places  where  they  were  needed. 

The  Bureau  should  charge  a  reasonable  fee  to  employees, 
although  waiving  this,  as  private  employment  agencies  do,  when- 
ever it  is  necessary  in  order  to  supply  particular  demands,  and 
postponing  it,  whenever  employees  are  entirely  without  funds, 
until  it  can  be  paid  from  wages.  Eventually  the  Bureau  might 
make  contracts  with  employers  on  the  basis  of  compensation  to 
the  Bureau  for  its  services,  but  my  suggestion  would  be  that  the 
service  be  free  to  employers  until  it  had  been  demonstrated  that 
the  Bureau  is  in  position  to  do  this  work  as  well  as  other  agencies  or 
better. 

On  account  of  the  general  dissatisfaction  with  all  existing 
systems — free  employment  bureaus,  ordinary  private  commercial 
agencies,    want   advertisements,    employers'    exchanges,  trade 


32 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


union  registers,  etc.,  and  for  other  reasons  already  indicated,  I  am 
of  the  opinion  that  an  Employment  Bureau  conducted  as  has  been 
proposed,  with  a  working  capital  of  $100,000,  would  eventually 
become  self-supporting,  and  would  pay  a  reasonable,  or  even, 
if  that  were  desired,  a  very  substantial  dividend  on  the  capital 
invested.  As  the  motives  of  those  who  would  establish  the  Bureau 
are  not,  however,  pecuniary,  but  public-spirited,  I  would  recom- 
mend that  the  Bureau  be  incorporated  on  a  plan  similar  to  that  of 
the  Provident  Loan  Society,  limiting  dividends  to  six  per  cent  and 
providing  that  the  surplus,  if  any  should  be  accumulated,  be  devoted 
to  some  appropriate  public  purpose. 

Aside  from  the  main  purpose  of  helping  the  unemployed  to  get 
work,  I  would  expect  that  a  Bureau  of  the  kind  that  is  under 
consideration  would  have  three  indirect  and  incidental  but  ex- 
ceedingly important  functions: 

(1)  By  competition  it  would  help  to  eliminate  the  evils  of  the 
ordinary  commercial  agencies. 

(2)  By  opening  up  opportunities  for  employment  in  other 
communities,  both  urban  and  rural,  it  would  contribute  to  the 
solution  of  the  overshadowing  and  increasingly  serious  problem 
of  congestion  of  population  in  New  York  City. 

(3)  It  would  gradually  establish  standards  of  work  which 
might  eventually,  if  the  establishment  of  a  State  Bureau  or  even 
a  National  Bureau  is  found  expedient,  be  taken  over  in  the  manage- 
ment of  such  official  bureaus.  Conditions  in  this  country  do  not 
at  present  seem  favorable  for  establishing  high  standards  in  official 
bodies  of  this  kind.  This  is  greatly  to  be  deplored,  and  it  is  doubt- 
ful whether  voluntary  agencies  in  the  field  of  social  work  can 
render  a  better  service  than  by  working  out  at  private  expense  and 
under  the  more  favorable  conditions  of  private  initiative,  standards 
of  work  which  will  subsequently  modify  the  work  of  public  agencies 
if  they  become  desirable.  Without  attempting  to  anticipate 
whether  social  legislation  in  this  country  will  follow  the  course 
which  it  has  taken  in  all  European  countries,  including  Great 
Britain,  we  may  at  least  feel  it  to  be  a  patriotic  duty  to  do  anything 


RECOMMENDATIONS 


33 


that  is  possible  to  be  prepared  for  such  legislation  by  unhampered 
experiment  with  the  problems  which  elsewhere  have  already 
become  governmental  functions.  If  on  the  other  hand  it  is  found 
that  recent  tendencies  in  these  directions  are  modified  or  reversed 
and  that  such  activities  are  to  remain  indefinitely  in  private  hands, 
then  nothing  is  lost  but  everything  is  gained  by  such  pioneer  work 
as  is  now  proposed. 

(4)  It  would  help  to  decasualize  labor,  if  we  may  use  a  phrase 
which  has  become  more  familiar  in  England  than  in  this  country, 
but  which  implies  a  lamentable  condition  towards  which  a  large 
part  of  our  unskilled  labor  is  unfortunately  tending.  Any  employer 
in  undertaking  a  new  job  would  prefer,  other  things  being  equal, 
to  secure  laborers  who  have  been  at  work,  rather  than  men  who 
have  been  demoralized  by  idleness  or  underemployment. 

(5)  Eventually  the  Employment  Bureau  might  exert  an  im- 
portant influence  on  the  critical  period  in  the  lives  of  boys  and 
young  men  when  they  first  begin  work.  We  have  child  labor 
committees  and  a  widespread  interest  in  protective  legislation, 
but  not  enough  attention  has  been  given  to  the  kind  of  work  in 
which  working  boys  from  fourteen  to  twenty  years  of  age  are  en- 
gaged. It  is  largely  lost  time,  paying  relatively  high  wages  at 
the  start  but  leading  nowhere.  While  it  could  not  become  the 
main  function  of  the  Employment  Bureau  to  deal  with  the  problem, 
it  might  incidentally  contribute  materially  to  its  solution. 

The  strongest,  and  to  my  mind  conclusive,  argument  in  favor 
of  the  establishment  of  an  Employment  Bureau  is  to  be  found 
in  the  very  dearth  of  information  and  even  of  views  which  this  brief 
and  necessarily  superficial  inquiry  has  disclosed.  There  appears 
to  be  no  way  of  finding  out  how  much  mal-adjustment  actually 
exists  either  in  our  own  city  or  between  this  and  other  communities, 
or  of  discovering  remedies  except  by  trying  the  experiment.  At 
the  end  of  a  year  or  two  of  actual  work  by  such  an  Employment 
Bureau  as  has  been  proposed  we  would  have  a  body  of  experience 
and  information  from  which  conclusions  could  be  drawn  in  regard 
3 


34 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


to  many  important  questions  of  public  policy  and  of  private  social 
effort.  It  may  seem  extravagant  to  say  that  the  mere  collection 
of  such  information  and  its  proper  interpretation  would  be  worth 
all  that  it  is  proposed  to  spend  in  the  experiment  even  if  it  should 
prove  to  be  an  utter  failure,  but  I  believe  this  to  be  a  moderate  and 
reasonable  estimate.  I  do  not  believe  that  it  will  be  a  failure,  and 
have  indicated  what  appear  to  me  to  be  convincing  reasons  for 
believing  that  it  will  be  a  success. 

I  have  thought  it  advisable  to  incorporate  in  Appendices 
several  special  reports  on  particular  aspects  of  the  inquiry  and 
other  material  which  will  repay  examination  by  those  who  desire 
to  be  in  position  to  form  their  own  conclusions. 

All  of  which  is  respectfully  submitted. 

Edward  T.  Devine. 


Appendices 


Appendices 


Page 

Appendix      I.  Letter  of  Inquiry  Concerning  Need  for  an 

Employment  Bureau   39 

Appendix     II.  Replies  to  Letter  of  Inquiry: 

Reply  from  Mr.  William  H.  Baldwin,  Washington,  D.  C   41 

Reply  from  Mr.  Frank  L.  Baldwin,  Attorney-at-law,  Youngs- 
town,  Ohio   43 

Reply  from  Prof.  Ernest  L.  Bogart,  Princeton  University   45 

Reply  from  Mr.  Herbert  S.  Brown,  New  York  City   50 

Reply  from  Mr.  H.  L.  Cargill,  New  York  City   56 

Reply  from  Prof.  John  B.  Clark,  Columbia  University   58 

Reply  from  Prof.  John  R.  Commons,  University  of  Wisconsin  60 
Reply  from  Prof.  H.  J.  Davenport,  University  of  Missouri. .  62 

Reply  from  Prof.  Henry  W.  Farnam,  Yale  University   68 

Reply  from  Prof.  Frank  A.  Fetter,  Cornell  University   69 

Reply  from  Prof.  (Emeritus)  Wm.  W.  Folwell,  University  of 

Minnesota   74 

Reply  from  Prof.  J.  E.  Hagerty,  Ohio  State  University   76 

Reply  from  Mr.  James  Mullenbach,  Superintendent  of  the 

Municipal  Lodging  House  of  Chicago   78 

Reply  from  Prof.  E.  A.  Ross,  University  of  Wisconsin   84 

Reply  from  Prof.  Henry  R.  Seager,  Columbia  University   86 

Reply  from  Mr.  James  B.  Seager,  General  Manager  of  the 

Olds  Gas  Power  Company,  Lansing,  Michigan   89 

Reply  from  Mr.  Frederick  L.  Smith,  Vice-president  and 
General  Manager  of  the  Olds  Motor  WTorks,  Lansing, 

Michigan   91 

Reply  from  Mr.  Sidney  Webb,  London   96 

Reply  from  Mr.  Adna  F.  Weber,  Statistician  of  the  New  York 

Public  Service  Commission   104 

Reply  from  Mr.  Robert  A.  Woods,  South  End  House,  Boston  106 
Letter  from  Mr.  James  W.  Van  Cleave,  President  of  the 

National  Association  of  Manufacturers   107 

Appendix  III.  Plan  for  an  Employment  Bureau  for  Men 
Unfamiliar  with  the  English  Language. 

By  Mr.  Cyrus  L.  Sulzberger   109 

Appendix  IV.  Statements  in  Regard  to  Three  Free  Philan- 
&   §l*#fct  thropic  Bureaus  Conducted  in  New 

York  City   112 

Cooper  Union  Labor  Bureau.  Extract  from  the  Report 
of  the  New  York  Association  for  Improving  the  Condi- 
tion of  the  Poor   112 

Bureau  of  the  United  Hebrew  Charities.    Statement  by  Dr. 

Lee  K.  Frankel   113 

37 


38  APPENDICES 

Page 


Bureau  conducted  by  the  Society  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul. 

Statement  by  Mr.  Thomas  M.  Mulry   117 

Appendix  V.  Experiences  of  Mr.  Benjamin  C.  Marsh  in 
Trying  to  get  Work  in  New  York  City 

on  December  17  and  18,  1908   119 

Appendix    VI.  Study  of  Newspaper  Advertisements  as  a 

Medium  for  Securing  Work  and  Help.  . .  130 

Report  by  Mr.  H.  G.  Paine  on  New  York  papers   130 

Report  by  Mr.  Arthur  I.  Street,  editor  of  Street's  Pandex  of 

the  News,  on  Chicago  papers   157 

Appendix  VII.  Reports  Prepared  in  the  Bureau  of  Social 
Research  of  the  New  York  School  of 
Philanthropy,  under  the  Direction  of 

Mr.  R.  C.  McCrea   159 

On  Trade  Unions  as  Employment  Agencies   159 

Notes  on  Interviews  with  Trade  Union  Officials    164 

On  the  Attitude  of  Employers  toward  a  General  Employ- 
ment Bureau   181 

On  Unemployed  Men  at  the  Municipal  Lodging  House  of 

New  York.    By  Mr.  E.  E.  Pratt   186 

Character  of  Lodgers  in  Municipal  Lodging  House.  By 

Hon.  Robert  W.  Hebberd   201 

On  the  Mobility  of  Workers.    By  Mr.  R.  Brodsky   202 

Appendix  VIII.  Statement  in  Regard  to  an  Experiment  by 
the  Joint  Application  Bureau  in  Finding 
Work  for  Men  in  the  Country.  By  Mr. 
Charles  K.  Blatchly,  Superintendent 

of  the  Bureau   216 

Appendix  IX.  Extract  from  the  Sixth  Annual  Report  (for 
1908)  of  Hon.  Oscar  S.  Straus,  Secretary 
of  Commerce  and  Labor,  in  Regard  to 
the  Work  of  the  Dtvisionof  Information 

in  the  Bureau  of  Immigration   218 

Appendix  X.  The  Value  of  Labor  Exchanges.  Extract 
from  a  Pamphlet  by  Mr.  W.  H .  Beveridge, 

of  London   221 

Appendix    XI.  Extracts  from  an  Address  by  the  Rt.  Hon. 

Winston  Churchill,  M.  P.,  President 

of  the  British  Board  of  Trade   224 

Appendix  XII.  Extracts  from  a  Letter  by  Mr.  Cyrus  L. 

Sulzberger  to  the  Chairman  of  the 
New  York  State  Commission  of  Immi- 
gration, in  Regard  to  the  Work  of  the 

Industrial  Removal  Office   227 

Appendix  XIII.  A  Partial  Bibliography  on  the  Subject  of 

Employment  Bureaus  232 


APPENDIX  I 

Letter  of  Inquiry  Concerning  Need  for  Em- 
ployment Bureau 

105  East  22D  Street,  New  York  City, 

November  20,  1908. 

It  has  become  my  duty  to  make  a  somewhat  comprehensive 
report  on  the  advisability  of  establishing  an  Employment  Bureau 
in  New  York  City,  substantially  on  the  lines  indicated  in  the  ac- 
companying memorandum.*  A  sufficient  sum  of  money  has  been 
placed  at  my  disposal  for  this  purpose  to  enable  me  to  offer  modest 
payment — such  as  would  ordinarily  be  made  for  a  magazine  article 
— for  such  statements  from  competent  authorities  on  the  labor 
situation  as  will  be  of  special  aid  in  making  this  report.  If,  there- 
fore, you  will  submit  your  views  on  the  following  questions,  to- 
gether with  any  information,  statistical  or  other,  that  you  think 
would  be  serviceable,  I  shall  be  very  glad  to  have  them  and  will  at 
once  send  you  in  payment  therefor  not  less  than  ten  dollars,  and  in 
case  of  exceptionally  valuable  communications,  or  in  case  much 
time  is  expended  in  collecting  new  information,  some  reasonable 
additional  compensation.! 

Time  is,  however,  an  important  element  in  this  inquiry,  and 
unless  by  special  arrangement,  I  would  not  be  able  to  use  any  reply 
received  later  than  November  30,  and  I  would  very  much  ap- 
preciate a  much  earlier  reply.  The  questions  on  which  informa- 
tion and  opinions  are  desired  are  the  following : 

1.  To  what  extent  is  unemployment  in  our  large  cities  due 

*  Mr.  Jacob  H.  SchifFs  memorandum,  given  in  Introductory  Note,  page  3. 
t  Several  of  the  correspondents  declined  compensation. 

39 


4o 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


merely  to  mal-adjustment,  i.  e.,  to  the  failure  of  men  out  of  work  to 
find  in  their  own  neighborhood  existing  opportunities  for  employ- 
ment? 

Distinguish  different  kinds  of  work,  clerical,  skilled,  unskilled, 
etc.,  organized  or  unorganized.  Would  the  fact  that  the  Bureau 
charges  employers  a  fee  be  a  hindrance  or  an  advantage,  etc.  ? 

2.  To  what  extent  is  there  mal-adjustment  as  between  com- 
munities, i.  e.y  how  far  could  the  surplus  of  labor  in  a  large  city  like 
New  York  find  employment  in  other  communities  ? 

The  reference  here  is  not  to  a  change  of  occupations  as  from  in- 
dustrial to  agricultural,  but  merely  to  change  of  locality.  Is  the 
apparent  over-supply  of  labor  in  cities  a  local,  or  a  part  of  a  national 
situation?    Is  it  a  feature  of  "congested  populations" ? 

3.  What  are  the  natural  limits  of  mobility  of  labor  as  to  changes 
from  one  occupation  to  another,  and  what  bearing  has  this  on  the 
possible  usefulness  of  an  Employment  Bureau  ? 

It  is  obvious,  for  example,  that  a  tailor  cannot  readily  ordinarily 
become  a  dairyman.  But  within  what  limits  might  an  over-supply 
of  labor  in  one  occupation  be  relieved  by  finding  other  reasonably 
similar  occupations  ?  In  other  words,  discuss  occupational  mobil- 
ity, as  distinct  from  geographical  mobility. 

You  will  gather  from  the  above  that  the  fundamental  question 
is  as  to  the  real  need  for  and  the  probable  utility  of  an  Employment 
Bureau.  The  above  questions  are  intended  as  suggestions,  and 
are  not  exhaustive.  Anything  which  you  wish  to  say  on  the  general 
subject  will  be  appreciated. 

Sincerely  yours, 

Edward  T.  Devine. 


APPENDIX  II 
Replies  to  Letter  of  Inquiry  (Appendix  I) 


REPLY  FROM  MR.  WILLIAM  H.  BALDWIN, 
of  Washington,  D.  C. 

I  approve  heartily  of  the  proposal  to  place  the  Bureau  under  a 
manager  of  great  executive  ability'.  Anything  done  in  a  perfunc- 
tory way  by  salaried  officials,  certain  of  their  pay  at  the  end  of  the 
month  whether  any  good  is  done  or  not,  is  not  likely  to  be  of  much 
practical  value.  Nothing,  in  my  opinion,  can  take  the  place  of 
the  stimulus  which  the  responsibility  for  success  or  failure  puts 
upon  men  who  must  account  to  stockholders  or  others  from  whom 
they  receive  their  position.  I  believe  such  a  bureau  as  you  pro- 
pose would  in  this  respect  be  far  more  efficient  than  any  govern- 
ment agency,  such  as  is  proposed  in  Pennsylvania,  is  likely  to  be. 

The  fee  is  quite  proper,  but  the  undertaking  would  have  to  be 
worked  up  like  any  other  enterprise  and  by  its  conduct  show  that 
the  fee  is  not  the  principal  purpose  of  its  establishment.  Em- 
ployers would  patronize  it  as  they  do  the  advertising  columns  of 
newspapers  if  experience  proved  that  it  was  worth  while  for  them 
to  do  so. 

i.  As  to  the  local  mal-adjustment  in  cities,  I  do  not  know.  So 
much  depends  upon  a  man's  make-up  as  to  his  getting  employment 
or  keeping  it  after  it  is  obtained;  and  I  imagine  that  the  quality  of 
work  done  by  those  who  have  grown  up  in  New  York  City,  and  by 
many  of  the  emigrants,  is  not  of  a  high  order.  Unquestionably  an 
efficient  agency,  which  keeps  up  a  knowledge  of  the  wants  of  em- 
ployers of  various  lines  in  different  quarters  of  the  city,  would 

41 


42 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


be  of  great  assistance  in  enabling  men  to  find  quickly  some  em- 
ployment which  they  were  fitted  for. 

2.  The  wider  question  of  mal-adjustment  as  between  com- 
munities presents  some  of  the  same  difficulties,  but  undoubtedly 
much  good  could  be  done  in  supplying  workmen  for  other  com- 
munities which  need  them.  It  is  not  probable  that  some  of  the 
men  from  New  York  could  stand  up  in  the  wheat  fields  of  Kansas 
where  men  are  so  much  needed  at  times,  but  I  believe  that  there  is 
a  good  deal  of  work  throughout  the  country  for  which  these  men 
would  be  fitted  if  they  could  be  properly  placed. 

The  congestion  seems  to  be  a  part  of  the  national  situation,  a 
result  of  the  tendency  to  crowd  together,  but  is  apparently  worse 
in  New  York  than  elsewhere  and  an  intelligent  effort  to  get  large 
numbers  of  people  past  this  dead-point,  and  enable  them  to  exer- 
cise this  crowding  tendency  in  other  communities,  would  be  of  great 
benefit. 

3.  The  limit  of  mobility  of  labor  as  between  occupations  de- 
pends largely  upon  the  man.  One  of  ordinary  intelligence  who  is 
anxious  to  work  has  considerable  range.  To  illustrate:  In  the 
plant  of  the  Ohio  Steel  Company,  with  which  I  was  connected,  the 
men  earning  more  wages  than  common  laborers  had  their  positions, 
and  a  man  capable  of  running  a  steam  engine,  for  instance,  could 
not  be  given  a  place  off-hand.  Is  was  our  custom  to  let  any  man 
who  applied  for  work  go  into  the  labor  gang,  from  which  men  were 
assigned  to  different  tasks  as  necessities  arose.  These  men  were 
watched  and  if  any  one  displayed  a  commendable  industry  or  capac- 
ity in  any  direction,  he  was  given  the  first  chance  at  any  desirable 
work.  In  this  way  there  was  a  constant  promotion  of  those  who 
were  fit  for  anything  better;  and  we  were  just  as  anxious  to  get 
men  for  these  better  positions  as  they  were  to  get  them.  Of  course 
there  were  many  men  whose  habits  were  bad,  or  who  were  indolent 
or  incapable  of  doing  anything  more  than  common  labor;  but  the 
opportunity  was  there,  and  my  experience  is  that  a  man  of  ordinary 
capacity,  but  with  the  will  to  do,  could  adapt  himself  to  quite  a 


FRANK  L.  BALDWIN 


43 


range  of  diverse  tasks  which  might  present  themselves  in  such  a 
large  plant. 

The  men  presented  by  such  a  bureau  as  you  propose  to  employ- 
ers for  work  to  which  they  were  not  accustomed  might  not  at  first 
earn  the  highest  wages,  but  if  they  could  get  something  to  do,  and 
be  learning,  there  could  be  a  progress  towards  better  work  and 
permanent  employment  which  would  be  well  worth  while.  Any 
occupation  sorts  out  the  capable  men.  Those  who  are  first  dropped 
or  who  first  drop  out,  and  are  compelled  to  seek  something  else, 
are  the  incapable. 

Finally,  such  a  bureau  in  charge  of  a  man  of  ability,  similar 
to  that  required  to  run  a  railroad,  for  instance,  would  develop  the 
possibilities  of  the  situation  and  not  only  find  work  for  large 
numbers  of  those  desiring  work,  but  would  take  away  the  excuse 
which  many  now  seem  to  have  for  not  working,  and  I  believe  that 
in  this  last  respect,  as  a  sifting  agency  eliminating  one  large  ele- 
ment in  the  problem  of  dealing  with  the  unemployed,  it  would  be 
well  worth  while. 

The  newspapers  last  week  reported  a  shortage  of  workmen  in 
Sharon,  Pa.  From  what  I  know  of  this  work  I  believe  that  a  man 
of  ordinary  capacity,  if  sent  out  from  New  York,  could  soon  learn 
to  do  the  work  in  one  of  the  positions  in  question,  even  though  he 
had  known  nothing  about  it  previously. 

November  24,  1908. 


LETTER  FROM  MR.  FRANK  L.  BALDWIN, 
Attorney-at-Law  in  Youngstown,  Ohio, 

Supplementing  the  Preceding  Letter  from  Mr.  William  H. 

Baldwin 

I  have  just  had  a  short  talk  with  one  or  two  of  our  employers  of 
labor,  and  they  seem  to  think  that  it  (the  Bureau)  would  probably 


44 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


work  well  in  the  larger  cities,  but  seem  to  doubt  its  usefulness  in 
places  like  Youngstown  and  vicinity.  Good  positions  in  towns  of 
this  size  are  pretty  well  filled,  and  the  men  go  along  up  from  the 
ranks  below  as  fast  as  places  become  vacant.  What  is  needed  in 
the  industries  in  this  vicinity  is  the  unskilled  laborer  with  brawn 
and  muscle  and  good  health.  Men  of  this  class  here  are  largely 
foreigners,  principally  Italians  and  Austrians,  such  as  the  Slovaks, 
Hungarians,  and  men  from  other  neighboring  districts  in  Europe. 
This  class  of  men  begin  as  laborers  here,  and  as  they  show  improve- 
ment are  advanced  to  better  positions.  Our  larger  industries  have 
departments  that  keep  in  touch  with  that  class  of  labor,  and  when 
men  are  needed  have  no  difficulty  in  getting  as  many  as  they  want 
by  going  to  their  padrones  or  leaders. 

Men  are  badly  needed  at  the  present  time  in  the  coke  regions  and 
also  in  the  industries  of  the  South.  Whether  the  unemployed  of 
New  York  City  could  be  utilized  is  questionable.  For  the  coke 
regions  sufficient  men  could  probably  be  obtained  without  much 
difficulty  from  a  city  like  Pittsburgh  and  its  vicinity. 

Unemployment  in  our  large  cities  is  due  principally  to  mal- 
adjustment. Men  who  are  out  of  work  find  it  difficult  to  find  em- 
ployment in  their  own  neighborhood,  and  also  find  it  extremely 
difficult  to  look  for  work  elsewhere,  by  reason  of  lack  of  means 
and  necessary  information.  An  Employment  Bureau  such  as  is 
contemplated  would  be  a  great  benefit  to  such  men. 

The  unemployed  of  New  York  City  are  more  numerous  in  the 
winter  months  when  work  on  the  large  enterprises  is  suspended. 
Whether  such  unemployed  could  be  moved  out  of  New  York  City 
to  work  elsewhere  is  a  serious  problem.  Most  of  such  men  prob- 
ably have  families  dependent  upon  them,  making  it  extremely 
difficult  to  transfer  them.  Clerical  and  skilled  labor  usually  fill 
such  positions  locally,  and  there  would  be  places  only  for  the  un- 
skilled laborer  or  workingman. 

November  30,  1908. 


PROFESSOR  ERNEST  L.  BOGART 


45 


REPLY  FROM  PROF.  ERNEST  L.  BOGART, 
or  Princeton  University 

Some  years  ago  I  had  occasion  to  look  up  the  matter  quite 
thoroughly  in  connection  with  an  article  on  Free  Public  Employ- 
ment Agencies  in  the  United  States  for  the  Quarterly  Journal  oj 
Economics  (Vol.  XIX,  pp.  341-377).  From  that  and  subsequent 
studies  I  am  convinced  that  the  problem  of  mal-adjustment  of 
labor  is  not  at  all  adequately  met  by  existing  agencies,  and  that 
there  is  real  need  of  an  institution  that  shall  attempt  to  meet  the 
problem  on  broader  lines  than  has  yet  been  attempted — perhaps 
national.  New  York  City  is  certainly  the  strategic  center  from 
which  such  an  effort  should  be  made. 

I.  Is  there  a  lack  of  adjustment  within  New  York  City  be- 
tween workers  and  existing  opportunities  for  work  ? 

Yes,  there  is,  although  this  differs  greatly  in  the  different 
branches  of  labor.  It  is  probably  greatest  in  domestic  service, 
owing  partly  to  the  temporary  and  shifting  character  of  this  em- 
ployment. But  in  this  field  the  need  is  probably  fairly  well  met 
by  existing  commercial  agencies.  If  the  proposed  Bureau  were 
established,  it  would  be  necessary  to  guard  carefully  against  being 
swamped  by  this  kind  of  labor,  as  has  occurred  in  the  various  State 
bureaus.  Skilled  labor,  especially  where  organized,  has  generally 
depended  upon  its  own  agencies,  often  very  specialized,  to  bring 
about  an  adjustment  in  the  labor  market.  It  would  be  very  dif- 
ficult to  meet  the  peculiar  needs  of  employers  or  workers  in  this 
field,  and  I  personally  should  doubt  the  wisdom  of  trying  to  do  so. 
There  is  of  course  a  large  amount  of  unemployment  among  skilled 
workers,  but  so  far  as  this  is  caused  by  the  seasonal  character  of 
their  work,  the  generally  accepted  economic  view  is  that  they  re- 
ceive a  sufficiently  higher  wage  during  the  period  of  employment  to 
compensate  them  for  the  period  of  unemployment.  A  great  deal 
of  the  unemployment  among  this  group  is  undoubtedly  due  to 


46 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


absolute  lack  of  work  to  be  done.  Thus  the  Twentieth  Annual 
Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics  of  New  York  State  re- 
ported the  amount  of  idleness  among  the  members  of  labor  organi- 
zations in  the  State  for  the  year  1900  as  due  to  the  following  causes: 
Idleness  due  to — 


Lack  of  work  75.5  per  cent 

Bad  weather,  etc  5 

Strike  or  lockout  13.0 

Sickness,  etc   4.7 

Other  6.3 

How  to  deal  with  this  is  a  very  difficult  problem,  but  it  would 
certainly  seem  undersirable  to  try  to  secure  any  considerable  oc- 
cupational shift  to  other  occupations  or  any  geographical  shift  to 
other  places.  The  difficulty  is  probably  a  temporary  one,  at  least 
on  any  such  abnormal  scale  as  presented  in  the  above  table. 

The  proposed  Bureau  would  probably  deal  principally  with  the 
unskilled  and  unorganized  laborers.  Here  the  need  of  a  bureau 
seems,  too,  most  evident,  and  in  dealing  with  these  classes  the  free 
public  employment  bureaus  have  achieved  their  greatest  successes. 

The  technical  and  skilled  trades  have  their  trade  organizations 
or  special  agencies;  but  this  group,  numerically  far  surpassing 
the  others,  is  taken  care  of  in  rather  haphazard  fashion.  The 
first  problem  to  be  met  in  dealing  with  this  group,  however,  is 
the  strict  separation  of  the  " won't- works"  and  the  unemployable 
class  from  the  unemployed.  It  would  be  the  duty  of  the  Bureau 
to  try  to  solve  only  the  problem  of  mal-adjustment,  and  to  hand 
over  to  other  organizations  the  care  of  the  unemployable.  Charles 
Booth  calculated  for  London  that  over  8  per  cent  of  the  population 
belong  to  the  unemployable  group.  Nor,  as  I  have  said  before, 
does  it  seem  to  be  feasible  for  the  Bureau  to  deal  with  such  unem- 
ployment as  arises  from  seasonal  fluctuations  due  to  the  character 
of  the  work,  bad  weather,  etc.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  industrial 
mal-adjustment  due  to  industrial  depression,  changes  in  fashion, 


PROFESSOR  ERNEST  L.  BOGART 


47 


the  introduction  of  new  machinery,  etc.,  must  be  met  by  the 
Bureau  and  an  attempt  made  to  introduce  the  unemployed  laborers 
to  some  other  occupation.  Possibly  the  greatest  problem  in 
connection  with  this  class,  and  the  one  which  would  keep  the 
Bureau  busiest,  would  be  the  treatment  of  the  casual  laborers. 
Forced  by  the  very  nature  of  their  occupations  to  find  a  new  job 
at  periodic  intervals,  they  would  have  constant  recourse  to  the 
Bureau.  It  would  be  necessary,  therefore,  to  keep  in  touch  with 
large  employers  of  labor  and  to  secure  their  co-operation  with 
the  Bureau. 

The  question  as  to  whether  the  Bureau  should  charge  a  fee 
or  not  is  an  administrative  one,  which  I  should  unhesitatingly 
answer  in  the  affirmative.  It  should  be  placed  as  far  as  possible 
upon  a  business  basis.  It  must  avoid  trying  to  "run  out"  other 
existing  commercial  agencies.  But  an  even  stronger  reason  for 
charging  a  fee  is  in  the  effect  it  has  upon  both  employers  and 
employees:  where  no  fee  is  charged,  it  is  apt  not  to  be  patronized; 
or,  if  employment  is  found  for  an  applicant,  little  obligation  is 
felt  because  the  service  was  a  free  one,  and  at  the  slightest  provoca- 
tion a  rupture  occurs.  If  it  seemed  undesirable  to  charge  the 
unemployed  applicant  for  a  position  an  initial  fee,  it  could  be 
deducted  subsequently  from  his  wages.  But  it  would  certainly 
seem  desirable  to  make  a  charge  to  employers,  quite  aside  from 
any  voluntary  contributions  they  may  make  to  its  support. 

II.  Is  there  a  mal-adjustment  of  labor  between  communities? 

I  should  answer  yes  to  this  question  less  unhesitatingly  than 
to  the  former  one.  At  bottom,  it  seems  to  me,  the  problem  which 
would  confront  the  suggested  Bureau  in  New  York  City  is  the 
problem  of  congested  population.  There  is  today  much  less 
opportunity  in  the  far  West  to  attract  workers,  now  that  the  free 
land  has  practically  all  been  taken  up.  Many  persons,  too,  are 
attracted  to  the  cities,  quite  irrespective  of  the  existence  of  any 
actual  demand  for  their  services.  New  York  City  has  also,  of 
course,  peculiar  problems  of  her  own,  as  a  result  of  the  influx 


48 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


of  foreigners,  of  whom  so  many  remain  there.  But  that  normally 
there  is  room  and  work  for  all  the  workers  in  this  country  admits, 
it  seems  to  me,  of  no  doubt.  So  far,  therefore,  as  it  is  a  question 
of  mal-adjustment,  especially  if  it  be  geographical,  the  proposed 
Bureau  should  certainly  cover  as  large  a  territory  as  possible.  The 
success  of  the  German  system  is  largely  due  to  its  national  scope. 
It  should  at  least  comprise  a  whole  State,  in  which  there  should 
be  several  branches,  or  affiliated  institutions,  working  together. 
The  most  successful  institution  of  the  sort  in  the  United  States, 
so  far  as  I  know,  is  the  Seattle  Free  Employment  Bureau,  which 
has  secured  the  co-operation  of  the  large  employers  of  labor 
throughout  the  State,  and  sends  men,  especially  unskilled  workers, 
to  the  most  distant  parts  of  the  State. 

There  seems  to  be  a  standing  demand  for  labor  in  the  agri- 
cultural parts  of  New  York  State.  A  List  of  Farms  Occupied 
and  Unoccupied  in  New  York  State,  published  by  the  Bureau 
of  Information  and  Statistics  (Bulletin  No.  i,  Department  of 
Agriculture),  states  that  "probably  fifty  thousand  agricultural 
laborers  can  find  employment  on  the  farms  of  New  York  at  good 
wages.  Families  particularly  are  wanted  to  occupy  rented  houses 
and  work  farms  on  shares."  Perhaps  some  of  the  three  hundred 
thousand  aliens  who  settled  in  the  cities  of  New  York  State  during 
the  year  1904-5  could  be  persuaded  to  leave  them  for  the  farms 
if  the  matter  were  fairly  presented  to  them.  My  own  experience 
as  a  charity  worker  in  New  York  City  was  that  many  of  those 
asking  for  assistance  had  come  from  rural  districts  or  from  farms 
in  the  Old  World.  It  would  therefore  seem  reasonable  to  suppose 
that  they  might  be  willing  to  accept  similar  work  here.  There 
is,  of  course,  the  difficulty  of  ignorance  of  the  language  to  be  met; 
possibly  this  could  be  met  by  colonization  on  a  fairly  large  scale 
of  farm  laborers  of  the  same  nationality  in  the  same  district. 

III.  The  relation  of  the  mobility  of  labor  to  the  proposed 
Employment  Bureau. 

The  main  usefulness  of  the  Bureau,  it  seems  to  me,  must 


PROFESSOR  ERNEST  L.  BOGART 


49 


consist  in  promoting  geographical  mobility  of  labor.  It  is  a 
curious  historical  fact  that  with  the  increased  ease  of  geographical 
movement  of  labor,  its  occupational  mobility  has  declined.  As  it 
becomes  easier  to  move  bodies  of  men  from  one  place  to  another, 
there  is  less  inducement  to  wage-earners  to  shift  their  occupations, 
Among  the  native-born  Americans,  consequently,  there  is  com- 
paratively little  occupational  mobility.  Perhaps  because  they 
have  made  such  a  radical  geographical  change,  there  is  also  a 
greater  tendency  to  occupational  changes  among  the  foreign-born. 
But  as  two-thirds  of  the  immigrants  are  probably  to  be  classed 
among  the  unskilled,  the  occupational  change  is  not  very  great. 
The  Bureau  would  deal  very  largely  with  this  class,  and  would 
doubtless  find  it  feasible  to  promote  occupational  changes  in 
many  cases,  where  it  would  mean  a  gain.  In  general,  however, 
such  movements,  especially  for  skilled  labor,  mean  a  social  loss 
rather  than  a  gain,  as  it  connects  a  sacrifice  of  specialized  skill. 
There  is,  however,  a  strong  temptation  to  exchange  the  uncertain 
prospect  of  good  wages  in  a  specialized  trade  for  the  immediate 
high  returns  that  can  usually  be  obtained  by  an  able-bodied, 
muscular,  unskilled  worker.  The  conclusion  that  this  leads  to 
is  that  what  is  needed  in  the  last  analysis  is  industrial  training 
that  will  promote  general  intelligence  and  thereby  render  possible 
a  certain  amount  of  occupational  mobility  without  at  the  same 
time  entailing  loss  of  special  training. 

My  own  conclusion  would  be  that  there  is  ample  scope  and 
need  for  the  proposed  Bureau  in  New  York  City,  and  that  it  would 
fill  a  need  that  is  at  present  met  in  no  other  way. 

November  28,  1908. 


4 


50 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


REPLY  FROM  MR.  HERBERT  S.  BROWN, 
of  New  York  City 

I.  Every  energetic  workman,  so  far  as  my  experience  extends, — 
and  this  reservation  applies  to  all  that  is  said  below, — knows 
other  workmen  in  his  trade,  and  through  them  and  through  personal 
visits  to  the  various  employers,  he  keeps  in  fairly  close  touch  with 
possible  demands  for  his  services.  Members  of  trade  unions 
may  frequent  the  headquarters  of  the  union,  in  the  chance  of 
getting  one  of  the  jobs  that  come  to  the  union  direct  and  are 
passed  out  there  on  some  uncertain  plan  not  fully  understood  by 
me.  Strangers  in  the  city,  of  course,  have  fewer  such  means  of 
getting  located. 

Similarly,  every  employer  has  lists,  often  very  large,  of  appli- 
cants for  work  and  of  men  who  have  previously  worked  for  him. 
By  reference  to  these  lists  and  by  inquiry  among  his  own  men 
it  is  possible  for  him  to  get  about  all  the  help  he  needs,  in  the 
skilled  and  semi-skilled  occupations,  even  in  busy  times.  In  the 
case  of  unskilled  labor,  it  is  more  difficult  to  put  men  where  they 
are  wanted  at  the  moment  they  are  wanted.  In  seasonal  occupa- 
tions, as  among  the  garment  workers,  it  is  not  always  easy  to  get 
extra  help  for  the  few  weeks  it  is  needed, — not  because  of  mal- 
adjustment, but  because  of  full  employment  of  all  skilled  in  the 
trade. 

Crude  and  inefficient  as  the  above- indicated  methods  of  buying 
and  selling  labor  are,  yet  by  their  means  some  kind  of  a  market 
for  his  services  is  always  open  to  the  active  workman,  except  in 
"hard  times"  when  nobody  is  buying  labor.  At  such  times  no 
amount  of  individual  canvassing  or  underbidding  would  materially 
increase  the  available  supply  of  work, — the  turn  in  the  tide  of 
which,  in  my  judgment,  depends  primarily  upon  entirely  different 
factors.  I  do  not  think  that  an  employment  bureau,  working 
within  trade  lines,  would  be  any  more  successful  in  remedying 


HERBERT  S.  BROWN 


51 


unemployment  in  "hard  times"  than  such  men  as  I  have  indicated 
working  singly. 

II.  I  have  little  direct  knowledge  of  possible  mal-adjustment, 
in  the  same  trade,  between  different  communities.  It  is  my 
impression  that  in  the  East  we  have  less  mobility  in  the  working 
population  than  obtains  in  the  West.  The  influence  of  the  trade 
unions  is,  I  believe,  against  such  geographical  mobility.  New- 
comers, even  with  the  proper  credentials,  are  not  over- welcome 
in  any  city.    Witness  San  Francisco. 

"  Over- supply"  of  labor,  so  far  as  it  exists  in  normal  times, 
is  due,  in  my  opinion,  to  inertia  (rather  than  immobility)  on  the 
part  of  the  workman,  together  with  a  partly  unconscious,  partly 
studied  policy  of  very  many  large  employers — the  Metropolitan 
Street  Railway  Company,  for  instance — of  keeping  more  men  on 
their  pay-rolls  than  they  can  possibly  employ  for  full  time.  As 
I  take  this  to  be  an  economic  rather  than  an  ethical  inquiry,  I 
will  not  express  my  views  on  the  responsibility  of  employers  for 
the  part-time  men.  Distinctly,  the  latter  is  a  feature  of  "con- 
gested" populations. 

III.  The  natural  limits  to  occupational  mobility  are,  I  believe, 
vastly  less  confining  than  those  narrow  bounds  set  down  by  custom, 
by  habit,  by  employers,  and  by  trade  unions.  The  long  appren- 
ticeships demanded  in  some  trades  are  sheer  humbug,  designed  to 
keep  down  the  total  of  workmen  available  in  the  craft.  That 
the  apprentice  appears  slow  to  learn  means  almost  always  that  he 
is  not  given  the  chance  to  learn — assuming,  of  course,  reasonable 
energy  and  natural  fitness  for  the  work. 

Back  of  each  skilled  trade  and  occupation  lies  primarily  nothing 
more  mysterious  than  a  certain  deftness  of  hand,  accuracy  of  eye, 
co-ordination  of  muscles,  sense  of  rhythm,  commercial  instinct, 
or  whatever  else  it  may  be,  essential  to  the  profitable  prosecution 
of  that  occupation.  Many  a  one  of  such  human  qualities  will 
open  the  way  to  success  in  more  than  one  trade, — the  more  general 
of  them  to  a  large  number  of  trades.    For  example,  the  man  who 


52 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


has  the  "mechanical  instinct,"  and  has  had  sufficient  training 
in  any  one  of  the  score  or  more  of  mechanical  trades  to  have 
acquired  accurate  and  quick  co-ordination  of  brain  and  muscle, 
can  and  frequently  does  pass  freely  from  one  trade  to  another, 
with  no  greater  handicap  than  the  few  weeks'  or  months'  delay 
requisite  to  learn  the  special  processes  of  the  new  trade  and  to 
bring  his  speed  up  to  that  of  the  man  whose  longer  experience  has 
made  the  work  practically  automatic.  And  the  lower  the  grade 
of  skill  required,  the  easier  to  make  transitions.  It  is  unreasonable 
to  expect,  and  secure,  of  the  men  who  carry  on  the  difficult  work 
of  the  world  the  astonishing  mobility  which  history  relates  of 
Julius  Caesar,  or  Goethe,  or  the  ex- plumber  Croker,  with  many 
another  immortal  not  yet  dead  enough  to  mention  by  name,  and 
then  deny  to  the  deft  fingers  that  roll  cigarettes  in  hopeless  competi- 
tion with  automatic  machinery  the  chance  at  a  dozen  other  occupa- 
tions unknown  to  them  but  known  to  us  where  the  deft  finger  is 
a  valuable  asset. 

I  believe  that  it  is  possible  to  weave  through  the  maze  of 
endlessly  divided  and  subdivided  craft  and  occupation  a  com- 
paratively simple  classification  based  on  the  underlying  essential, 
human  qualification,  rather  than  on  a  technical  knowledge  of 
trade  peculiarity.  I  believe  it  would  be  possible  to  pass  men 
properly  qualified  under  such  a  classification  from  one  occupation 
to  others  closely  allied  with  comparative  ease.  And  I  believe 
that  the  encouragement  of  such  inter-occupational  mobility  would 
be  of  very  great  benefit  to  the  community.  It  is  part  of  my  creed 
in  life  that  every  man  has  a  place,  perhaps  a  dozen  places,  into 
which,  when  at  last  found,  he  will  fit  with  definite  profit  to  himself 
and  every  one  else  concerned.  I  believe  that  "congested"  popu- 
lation means  congested  wealth,  and  that  with  proper  mobility 
facilitated,  the  tangle  will  resolve  itself,  so  that  ultimately  we 
may  be  able  to  say — the  more  people  the  more  prosperity. 

The  proposition  to  establish  an  employment  bureau  that  shall 
amount  to  something  is  in  substance  a  proposition  to  upset  the 


HERBERT  S.  BROWN 


53 


time-honored  barter  of  services  indicated  in  Section  I  above  and 
substitute  for  it,  in  New  York  at  least,  a  method  which  shall  be 
modern  and  efficient  in  somewhat  the  same  sense  as  are  all  our 
great  commodity  markets  of  wheat,  cotton,  and  money — subject  to 
undesirable  speculation  and  fluctuation,  to  be  sure,  but  on  the 
whole  acting  as  marvelous  balance  wheels  of  industry.  Again  I 
will  say  that  it  is  unreasonable  to  be  able  to  put  wheat,  or  gold, 
or  telephone  switchboards  by  less  than  the  turn  of  a  hand  into 
any  part  of  the  world  where  they  are  instanter  needed,  and  yet 
think  we  cannot  devise  means  for  shifting  our  most  valuable 
commodity,  human  service,  from  where  it  is  not  wanted  to  where 
it  is  wanted,  without  waiting  till  sheer  starvation  forces  that 
commodity  blindly  to  shift  for  itself. 

The  first  requisite  in  facing  this  problem  is  to  tuck  any  mis- 
sionary notions  we  may  have  about  us  away  in  our  pockets  where 
they  will  be  thoroughly  out  of  sight,  and  handy  for  reference  in 
private.  Our  transactions  in  themselves  must  be  business-like 
to  the  last  degree.  Men  buy  labor  only  when  they  can  see  a 
profit  to  be  made  by  so  doing.  The  employer  who  takes  on  men 
merely  because  they  need  work  is  so  rare  a  species  that  he  can  be 
left  out  of  our  count. 

The  second  requisite  is  that,  as  salesmen,  we  must  know  our 
goods.  At  this  point  every  employment  agency  I  ever  heard  of, 
except  perhaps  one  or  two  very  high-class  teachers'  agencies  and 
possibly  some  abroad,  breaks  down.  A  hasty  interview,  the  scan- 
ning of  a  few  references  (notoriously  meaningless),  and  the  appli- 
cant is  sent  out  to  win  or  lose  the  job  as  good  luck  and  his  own 
native  wit  may  determine.  Result:  not  many  employers  apply  a 
second  time  to  such  bureaus. 

It  should  be  possible  to  establish  an  employment  bureau  which 
would  know  its  merchandise — its  applicants — so  thoroughly  that 
the  man  possessed  of  the  bureau's  certificate  of  fitness  for  work 
in  a  certain  grade  would  have  therein  the  highest  recommendation 
available  in  this  city.    By  proper  care  such  a  certificate  could  be 


54 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


made  the  sine  qua  non  of  entrance  to  many  of  the  larger  industrial 
concerns.  By  proper  publicity  young  men  could  be  stimulated 
to  fit  themselves  to  obtain  certificates  for  higher  grades  and  better 
opportunities  than  those  they  previously  held. 

Suppose,  for  example,  a  young  man  working  in  a  street-railway 
office,  computing  conductors'  returns  fifty  hours  a  week  at  six  to 
ten  dollars  a  week,  with  a  family  to  support  and  a  possibility  of 
increase  after  years  of  sendee  to  perhaps  fifteen  dollars.  If  one 
of  the  classifications  of  the  proposed  Bureau  should  be,  say,  "  ac- 
counting clerk,"  qualifying  for  positions  of  a  certain  grade  in 
insurance,  bankers',  brokers',  contractors',  and  many  other  kinds 
of  offices,  and  if  this  young  man,  otherwise  likely  to  stay  put  till 
sheer  necessity  drove  him  out,  hearing  of  the  Bureau,  pulled  him- 
self together,  qualified  for  and  secured  with  good  credit  its  certifi- 
cate for  this  grade,  he  might  now  pass,  on  his  own  initiative  or  on 
the  Bureau's  recommendation,  to  a  better  position  in,  say,  a  con- 
tractor's office.  Thence  by  successive  advances  in  qualification, 
he  could  take  up  other  and  higher  grades  of  work,  until  he  found 
the  place  where  his  services  were  of  maximum  value  to  himself 
and  the  community.  The  people  in  the  railway  office  on  their 
part  would  now  have  room  for  a  clerk  of  lower  grade,  or,  if  they 
were  actually  underpaying  their  men,  the  mobility  induced  by  the 
Bureau's  activities  would  soon  make  this  evident,  and  justify  them 
in  increasing  wages  to  the  market  standard. 

The  suggestion  is,  broadly,  to  establish  for  industrial  service  in 
New  York  a  classification  and  standards  of  fitness  just  as  are 
already  being  worked  out  for  the  civil  service.  Guaranteeing 
work  to  applicants  is  not  contemplated.  The  function  of  the 
Bureau  would  be  simply  to  point  out  the  road  to  those  who  want 
to  better  themselves,  and  to  indorse  fitness  in  those  who  qualify 
under  its  standards. 

Necessarily  this  means  examinations  and  tests,  which  will  be 
expensive,  particularly  at  the  inception  of  the  enterprise.  This 
expense,  and  other  reasonable  expenses  of  the  Bureau,  should  rest, 


HERBERT  S.  BROWN 


55 


as  in  most  commercial  transactions,  on  the  seller  rather  than  on 
the  purchaser.  I  think  the  employer  should  be  free  from  financial 
obligation  in  the  matter.  Every  inducement  should  be  afforded 
him  to  encourage  co-operation  with  the  Bureau.  Let  his  contri- 
bution, if  any,  be  in  furnishing  skilled  overseers  to  advise  with 
the  Bureau  in  preparing  tests  of  fitness.  The  prospective  employee 
will  gladly  pay  for  the  services  of  the  Bureau  (note  how  the  padrone 
prospers),  and  if  successful  in  getting  work  he  will  be  able  to  pay. 
Generous  latitude  should  be  allowed  as  to  the  time  of  payment, 
and  responsibility  should  be  put  on  him  rather  than  on  the  employer 
to  see  that  the  obligation  is  met  when  due.  I  believe  there  would 
be  a  surprisingly  small  number  of  defaults.  With  reasonable 
charges  and  a  large  clientele,  such,  for  instance,  as  has  been 
built  up  by  the  Provident  Loan  Society,  the  enterprise  could  be 
made  commercially  practicable,  in  the  same  sense  as  is  that 
society  or  the  City  and  Suburban  Homes  Company.  The  mis- 
sionary part  will  be  in  the  inception;  in  later  years  the  Bureau,  if 
rightly  conducted,  would  be  likely  to  become  as  commercial  and 
unsentimental  a  factor  in  the  city's  life  as  are  its  savings  banks. 

A  classification  emphasizing  the  distinguishing  human  quality 
as  a  cut  through  the  maze  of  occupational  detail  would,  if  found 
and  proved  worthy,  carry  with  it  the  relatively  prompt  solution  of 
the  vexed  and  intensely  practical  problem  of  what  constitutes 
the  right  schooling  for  boys  and  girls  about  to  enter  the  industrial 
ranks.  Years  must  intervene  between  practice  and  proof  in  at- 
tempts to  work  out  the  latter  an  sich:  the  touchstone  of  immediate 
success  or  failure  awaits  any  application  of  theory  to  the  industrial 
army  itself. 

The  name  chosen  would  be  important  Brevity,  dignity,  and 
a  hint  of  official  authority  are  desirable.  "Employment  Bureau" 
suggests  too  much  the  "out  of  a  job"  atmosphere.  The  institu- 
tion must  be  constructive,  not  palliative.  "Bureau"  any  way  is 
an  unfortunate  word  in  its  leaning  toward  bureaucracy.  Some- 
thing like  "The  Service  Registry,"  or  "The  Industrial  Service 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


Registry"  might  convey  a  more  favorable  impression,  correlative 
in  the  public  mind  with  the  "  Civil  Service  Commission." 

Verily,  it  is  interesting  ground  your  inquiry  has  entered.  A 
ground  where  you  can  do  things. 

December  ii,  1908. 


REPLY  FROM  MR.  H.  L.  CARGILL, 
of  New  York  City 

Referring  to  that  part  of  the  question  relating  to  a  bureau 
charge,  while  I  might  modify  my  opinion  through  further  knowl- 
edge of  your  plans,  my  impression  is  that  such  charge  to  employers 
would  be  a  help  rather  than  a  hindrance.  You  will  probably 
find  some  reluctance  on  their  part  at  first  through  fear  that  your 
movement  is  an  effort  to  promote  the  incompetent  and  load  them 
with  inefficient  labor.  As  I  understand  your  purpose,  however, 
you  propose  a  real  service  to  employers  as  well  as  to  employees, 
and  when  that  service  is  given  or  the  employers  are  convinced  of 
it,  most  of  them  would  prefer  to  pay  for  it.  In  such  case  they  would 
feel  that  you  are  under  obligations  to  select  your  candidates  more 
carefully;  and  they  would  be  freer  to  complain  at  a  poor  supply. 
It  will  be  more  businesslike  all  around. 

In  reply  to  question  No.  3, — Occupational  Mobility.  In 
unskilled  labor,  of  course,  the  range  is  pretty  large  and  the  zone  of 
employment  wide.  Such  labor,  for  example,  can  be  shifted  from 
the  dock  to  the  warehouse,  can  be  transferred  to  gang  work, 
and  could  make  itself  useful  in  most  forms  of  agriculture,  etc. 
Passing  to  the  semi-skilled  trades,  the  zone  is  narrower,  though 
still  wide  enough  to  give  considerable  employment,  and  the  individ- 
ual mobility,  though  restricted,  is  enough  to  admit  of  considerable 
accommodation.  In  the  purely  skilled  trade  the  limits  are  sharply 
drawn.    The  modern  specialized  workman  is  apt  to  make  poor 


H.  L.  CARGILL 


57 


shift  of  it  when  he  turns  his  hand  to  anything  outside  of  his  specialty. 
The  clerical  employee  is  perhaps  the  most  handicapped  of  all. 

There  is  one  modifying  consideration,  however,  that  is  worth 
keeping  in  mind  in  this  connection.  The  American  per  se  has  more 
mobility,  more  "jack-of -all-trades"  about  him,  than  the  man  of 
any  other  race ;  and  so  far  as  the  Bureau  deals  with  the  American 
pure  and  simple  it  would  find  him  comparatively  easy  to  place. 
From  the  nature  of  the  case,  however,  the  bulk  of  your  unemployed 
would  be  of  foreign  stock.  Among  skilled  aliens,  occupational 
mobility  is  much  less  developed,  in  many  instances  entirely 
wanting. 

In  regard  to  the  need  of  this  Bureau:  Speaking  without  such 
special  examination  as  is  implied  in  your  first  two  questions, 
but  from  a  general  knowledge  of  the  subject,  it  seems  plain  that 
there  is  a  place  for  such  a  broad,  sane,  co-ordinated  movement 
as  you  suggest;  and  it  ought  to  fill  a  large  field  of  usefulness. 
The  utility  of  your  Bureau,  however,  will  depend  upon  its  organiza- 
tion and  administration,  upon  how  efficiently  and  wisely  your  plan 
is  carried  out.  In  this  connection  I  should  especially  emphasize 
the  need  of  making  haste  slowly.  From  the  unique  character 
of  the  venture,  unusual  problems  that  cannot  be  anticipated  will 
present  themselves,  and  they  will  have  to  be  worked  out  through 
experience.  It  would  therefore  seem  ill-considered  to  establish 
outlying  agencies  until  such  questions  had  been  carefully  settled 
through  the  results  of  the  New  York  office. 

There  are  two  specific,  vital  things  to  be  done  on  the  start: 
First,  you  must  secure  the  confidence  of  employers.  Second,  you 
must  enlist  the  co-operation  of  the  labor  unions,  without  conceding 
to  them  undue  voice  in  your  movement.  There  is  a  chance  for 
headwork  right  here. 

It  is  not  by  any  means  impossible  that  you  may  have  also  to 
overcome  considerable  apathy  or  suspicion  on  the  part  of  the  un- 
employed themselves.  All  this  means  much  time  and  work  aside 
from  the  usual  detail  and  work  of  an  organization. 


5« 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


Another  important  fact  must  be  kept  in  mind.  Employers, 
in  common  with  most  business  men,  are  shy  of  enterprises  which  are 
partly  business  and  partly  philanthropic,  and  objection  may  be 
made  to  your  Bureau  on  this  ground.  From  the  start,  therefore, 
it  is  vitally  important  that  the  business  aspects  of  your  movement, 
its  efficient  administration,  and  its  real  service  should  be  so  kept 
in  the  foreground  that  any  philanthropic  purpose  which  attaches 
to  it  should  not  be  overmuch  in  evidence. 

In  reply  to  your  question  as  to  whether  this  venture  can  be 
made  a  paying  enterprise,  I  should  say  again  that  it  all  hinges  upon 
administration.  As  a  business  there  ought  to  be  a  good  deal  in  it, 
but  it  will  require  unusual  skill  and  care  to  prevent  failure.  In 
any  event,  immediate  profits  could  hardly  be  obtained.  The 
first  year  would  necessarily  be  one  of  organization  and  experiment, 
but  with  these  well  done  and  conducted  it  would  not  seem  unreason- 
able to  expect  the  second  year  to  show  some  return  on  capital. 

December  21,  1908. 


REPLY  FROM  PROF.  JOHN  B.  CLARK, 
of  Columbia  University 

In  my  view  loss  of  employment  by  large  bodies  of  men  person- 
ally fit  for  it  is  invariably  due  to  mal-adjustment,  since  there  is 
never  a  time  when  there  is  not  within  the  limits  of  the  society  to 
which  the  men  belong  a  need  of  their  labor  and  a  chance,  with 
proper  adjustment,  to  dispose  of  its  product.  The  rearrange- 
ments needed  may  be  too  extensive  to  be  made  within  the  neighbor- 
hood in  which  the  men  reside,  and  herein  lies  the  largest  practical 
difficulty.  The  change  needed  is  occupational  and,  when  made  in 
a  large  scale,  involves  a  local  change  as  well. 

In  the  main,  in  the  period  following  the  recent  crisis,  the  change 
needed  has  been  from  occupations  catering  to  the  mere  luxurious 


PROFESSOR  JOHN  B.  CLARK 


59 


wants  to  those  producing  necessaries  of  life  and  comforts  of  the 
lower  grade.  The  trouble  would  now  be  relieved  by  a  migration 
from  manufacturing  and  commercial  centers  to  the  country. 
Agriculture  and  mining  would  absorb  a  large  amount  of  new 
labor  and  relieve  the  congestion  elsewhere.  The  change,  if  made 
by  persons  specially  fitted  for  these  rural  occupations,  would 
open  the  way  for  persons  not  so  fitted  to  find  employment  within 
their  own  communities.  The  mere  increase  of  the  output  of  agri- 
culture and  mining  would  create  a  demand  for  more  products  of 
urban  labor. 

Minor  changes,  such  as  those  from  community  to  community, 
would  afford  a  valuable  though  less  comprehensive  relief.  A 
large  system  of  intelligence  bureaus  would  make  known  in  con- 
gested centers  important  fields  for  labor,  though  they  would  be 
capable  of  receiving  fewer  persons  than  the  absolutely  rural 
occupations.  Probably  in  connection  with  changes  automatically 
making,  they  would  relieve  most  of  the  serious  distress  of  New 
York  City. 

It  is  a  happy  circumstance  that  labor,  thanks  to  modern 
methods,  has  become  increasingly  "mobile."  Formerly  much 
of  it  was  tied  to  its  occupations  by  the  fact  that  most  trades  required 
long  apprenticeships.  The  maker  of  shoes  could  not  make  cloth 
or  set  type  or  make  tools.  He  cannot  do  this  now  without  some 
instruction,  but  at  present  most  mechanical  trades  consist  of  special- 
ties that  can  be  easily  learned.  Many  of  them  involve  only  the 
tending  of  certain  machines,  and  it  is  not  hard  to  learn  to  run  differ- 
ent machines.  Old  men  may  not  readily  change  their  trades, 
but  young  men  can  do  so,  and  do  it  easily  where  the  change  is  not 
too  great.  Occupational  mobility  is  sufficient,  in  these  days,  to 
transfer  a  vast  number  of  persons  quickly  from  one  trade  to  another. 
The  larger  difficulty  is  the  local  one — changing  work  means  mov- 
ing, which  is  costly  and  is  hazardous  when  no  assurance  of  employ- 
ment is  afforded  before  the  move  is  made. 

In  my  view,  no  philanthropy  could  be  better  than  one  which 


60  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

should  seek  far  and  wide  for  plans  where  workers  are  needed  and 
make  the  facts  known  where  they  are  present  and  unemployed. 

The  plan  of  charging  a  slight  fee  is  the  right  one  in  the  long 
run.  Whether  it  should  be  adopted  at  the  outset,  while  the 
trouble  from  lack  of  employment  is  most  acute,  is  doubtful.  Any- 
thing to  ensure  quick  employment  in  an  emergency  might  be  the 
rule.  In  time — and  in  a  short  time — the  fees  should  be  charged, 
in  order  that  the  system  might  be  self-supporting. 

November  23,  1908. 


REPLY  FROM  PROF.  JOHN  R.  COMMONS, 
of  the  University  of  Wisconsin 

It  is  possible  that  if  one  were  to  make  a  thorough  field  investiga- 
tion and  to  give  some  time  to  the  matter  he  might  discover  features 
of  your  proposition  that  would  be  worth  taking  up,  but  the  atten- 
tion that  I  am  able  to  give  to  it  leads  me  to  question  very  much 
whether  the  plan  as  you  outline  it  will  secure  results  which  seem 
to  be  hoped  for. 

In  the  first  place,  it  appears  to  me  that  an  experiment  of  this 
kind  which  would  attempt  to  distribute  the  surplus  of  labor  of  New 
York  into  other  cities  or  industrial  communities  (I  perceive  that 
you  do  not  contemplate  agricultural  distribution)  would  lead  to 
such  great  friction  that  its  success  would  be  doubtful.  So  far 
as  I  am  able  to  learn,  the  depression  in  industry  and  resulting 
unemployment  is  general  throughout  the  country.  I  should  not 
be  surprised  if  it  were  worse  in  some  cities,  say  Pittsburgh,  than 
it  is  in  New  York.  If,  therefore,  New  York  labor  were  sent  to 
employers  in  other  cities,  objection  would  immediately  be  made 
on  the  part  of  the  local  wage-earners  and  especially  trade  unions. 
If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  New  York  emigrant  secured  employment, 
there  seems  to  be  no  guarantee  possible  that  the  employer  would 


PROFESSOR  JOHN  R.  COMMONS 


61 


keep  him,  provided  he  is  dissatisfied  with  his  work.  In  such  a  case 
the  laborer  would  be  thrown  on  the  local  charity  and  would  need 
to  be  carried  back  to  New  York  at  the  expense  of  your  proposed 
Bureau.  In  such  a  juncture  the  municipal  authorities  and  the 
charity  organization  would  be  after  you.  It  is  possible,  however, 
that  if  you  had  very  capable  agents  in  the  several  cities  to  which 
you  send  surplus  labor,  and  these  agents  were  thoroughly  able 
to  master  the  local  employment  situation  and  to  get  beneath  the 
representations  both  of  employers  seeking  cheap  labor  and  of 
trade  unionists  hostile  to  imported  labor,  you  might  avoid  the 
difficulties  suggested.  The  expenses,  however,  would  be  so  great 
in  securing  this  kind  of  competent  help,  that  I  do  not  think  it  is 
practicable. 

Omitting  then,  the  proposal  to  distribute  the  surplus  labor  of 
New  York  in  other  cities,  there  remains  the  question  of  what 
should  be  done  by  an  employment  bureau  designed  to  make  work 
for  the  unemployed  in  New  York  or  nearby. 

If  it  is  true  that  existing  employment  bureaus  are  unreliable, 
that  they  take  advantage  of  the  unemployed,  it  might  be  worth 
while  to  establish  a  model  bureau  both  as  an  example  to  others  and 
as  a  means  of  driving  out  the  unreliable  ones.  This  is  the  only 
ground  on  which  it  appears  to  me  it  would  be  worth  while  to 
establish  such  a  bureau  as  you  propose.  If  you  are  planning 
to  go  further  than  this  and  to  provide  work  for  the  unemployed, 
it  cannot  be  done  except  by  enlisting  the  State  or  city  or  private 
capital  in  starting  up  public  works  or  labor  colonies  or  something 
of  that  kind.  I  assume  that  the  existing  bureaus  are  adequate 
to  make  the  transfers  and  the  interchanges  needed  for  those 
employers  who  actually  are  looking  for  workmen.  But,  seeing 
that  private  employment  cannot  be  increased  until  the  general 
industrial  conditions  start  up,  there  remains  only  this  alternative 
of  making  work  independent  of  existing  establishments.  In 
other  words,  it  appears  to  me  that  the  best  thing  that  could  be  done 
under  the  circumstances  would  be  to  go  ahead  on  something  like 


62 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


the  Swiss  and  German  relief  stations,  labor  colonies,  etc.,  and  to 
plan  out  in  co-operation  with  the  State  and  municipal  authorities 
a  large  project  by  which,  whenever  private  industry  lets  down 
through  panic  or  depression,  these  supplementary  means  of  em- 
ployment could  be  started  up. 

As  to  the  occupational  mobility  of  labor,  it  does  not  appear 
to  me  practicable  so  far  as  private  employment  is  concerned.  A 
dairy  farmer  certainly  would  not  want  to  take  on  a  tailor  for  his 
work.  The  proper  way  to  get  at  the  extent  of  mobility  in  occupa- 
tion would  be  to  bring  together  the  agents  of  the  Charity  Organiza- 
tion Society  and  get  their  experience  in  the  matter.  I  should 
think,  however,  that  with  the  supplementary  methods  of  employ- 
ment which  I  have  suggested,  it  would  be  found  possible  to  make 
work  that  would  be  suitable  for  all  kinds  of  the  unemployed. 

I  have,  perhaps,  stated  my  views  with  more  assurance  and 
abruptness  than  are  warranted;  and,  as  I  said  in  the  beginning, 
a  thorough  investigation,  especially  if  there  is  promise  of  adequate 
expenditure  and  competent  managers  and  agents,  might  develop 
features  that  would  modify  what  I  have  said.  The  great  balance 
of  evidence,  however,  seems  to  me  just  now  to  support  the  position 
above  taken. 

November  24,  1908. 


REPLY  FROM  PROF.  H.  J.  DAVENPORT, 
of  the  University  of  Missouri 

I  believe  it  well  at  the  outset  to  distinguish  between  normal 
times  and  periods  of  panic,  or  of  post-panic  depression.  Any 
analysis  of  these  last  is  possible  only  after  the  settlement  of  some 
very  fundamental  issues  in  economic  theory.  For  my  own  part, 
I  am  convinced  that  the  difficulty  is  not  so  much  one  of  disturbed 
production  reacting  upon  consumption,  as  of  disturbed  consump- 


PROFESSOR  H.  J.  DAVENPORT 


63 


tion  reacting  upon  production.  The  period  preceding  the  depres- 
sion is  one  in  which  society  has  achieved  a  technicological  develop- 
ment affording  the  possibility  of  a  high  standard  of  consumption; 
society  now  turns  in  temper  and  disposition  temporarily  toward  a 
policy  of  postponed  consumption  and  of  saving.  Emphasis, 
that  is,  is  temporarily  transferred  from  goods  for  consumption  to 
the  accumulation  of  purchasing  power.  In  some  measure,  the 
supply  of  goods  does  not  now  furnish  a  demand  for  other  goods, 
but  merely  a  demand  for  the  medium  of  exchange  or  for  rights  of 
deferred  consumption  expressed  in  this  medium.  Each  man  is 
trying  to  produce  and  sell  more  than  he  buys  or  consumes.  This 
— socially  speaking — is  an  impasse.  Enlarged  industrial  equip- 
ment is  not  called  for  in  time  of  restricted  markets  for  goods; 
instrumental  goods  are  in  fact  already  in  surplusage.  Therefore 
only  soon  such  saving  can  take  place  for  individual  purposes  as 
connotes  an  increased  consumption  with  others,  and  an  enlarged 
indebtedness  against  them. 

And  this  means  that  the  essential  fact  of  industrial  depression 
is  commonly  a  temporarily  lowered  standard  of  living  in  a  society 
technicologically  equipped  for  a  higher  standard. 

In  times  of  this  sort,  it  is  not  possible  that  the  total  labor  force 
of  society  be  employed.    The  only  question  is  whether  some  of  the  * 
laborers  shall  be  fully  employed,  and  others  totally  lack  work, 
or  each  shall  work  at  reduced  time.    A  shorter  labor  day  is  by 
far  the  preferable  alternative. 

It  follows,  also,  that  this  time  of  restricted  individual  demands 
for  goods  is  precisely  the  time  in  which  public  work  should  be 
especially  undertaken.  What  is  accomplished  by  laborers  who 
would  otherwise  be  unemployed,  is,  socially  speaking,  a  pure 
saving, — a  costless  accomplishment.  Public  debts  should  be 
incurred  in  times  of  low  interest  and  of  lax  employment,  and 
should  be  paid  in  times  of  prosperity,  rather  than  be  incurred  on 
terms  of  diverting  labor  from  other  employments  and  at  a  high 
wage  cost  and  on  a  high  interest  level,  with  the  result  that  the 


64 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


payment,  when  it  does  take  place,  takes  place  through  taxes  col- 
lected at  the  maximum  of  burden  and  hardship. 

I  am  not  sure  how  far  an  employment  bureau  can  make  itself 
effective  here,  otherwise  than  as  in  some  degree  a  force  merely 
of  amelioration  or  of  readjustment.  Something,  however,  is 
doubtless  possible  in  this  direction. 

What  would  happen  if  the  principle  were  to  come  to  be  generally 
applied  over  the  entire  field  of  industry,  is,  I  suspect,  past  the 
theoretical  reach  of  the  economist,  and  must  rather  be  referred 
to  the  legislator,  the  agitator,  or  the  revolutionist.  So  far  as  the 
difficulties  of  non-employment  are  due  to  the  fact  that,  in  times 
of  stress  and  liquidation,  prices  tend  to  fall  more  rapidly  than 
wages,  an  employment  bureau  should  be  able  to  do  something 
in  finding  for  the  employer  laborers  who  are  willing  to  work 
upon  a  wage  level  making  their  employment  an  entrepreneur 
possibility.  I  see  no  reason  why  the  employer  should  not  pay  for 
this,  particularly  if  the  employment  bureau  accepts  some  re- 
sponsibility in  investigating  and  reporting  upon  the  quality  of 
the  labor. 

Turning,  however,  to  normal  conditions:  something  like  a 
problem  parallel  to  the  foregoing  is  presented  so  far  as  concerns 
the  work  of  the  monopoly  principle,  as  applied  (i)  by  employers, 
(2)  by  employees. 

No  combination  can  raise  the  price  of  its  product  on  any  other 
terms  than  of  diminishing  its  output.  This  involves  a  reduction 
of  the  labor  employed.  The  wider  spread  the  application  of  the 
monopoly  in  production,  the  larger  must  be  the  restriction  of  the 
labor  market.  Under  present  conditions  the  restriction  of  output 
by  the  monopolized  industries  must  result  in  the  congestion  in 
those  fields  still  backward  in  the  application  of  the  monoply 
principle. 

A  precisely  parallel  analysis  applies  to  the  activity  of  labor 
unions,  so  far  as  their  methods  involve  an  increase  of  wage  costs 
and  of  commodity  prices.    Higher  wages  can  be  enforced  by  the 


PROFESSOR  H.  J.  DAVENPORT 


05 


unions,  and  can  be  granted  by  employers  only  upon  the  basis  of 
a  higher  market  price  upon  a  restricted  output.  The  penalties 
are  paid  in  part  by  the  consuming  public  under  the  guise  of  higher 
prices  for  goods,  and  in  part  by  displaced  laborers  lacking  employ- 
ment. 

But  even  were  the  problem  of  non-employment  free  of  com- 
plication by  industrial  depression  or  by  monopoly  organization, 
it  would  still  be  serious  enough,  though  serious  in  aspects  more 
readily  submitting  to  amelioration  through  the  methods  of  employ- 
ment bureaus. 

Imagine  yourself  in  a  great  city,  even  in  prosperous  times, 
seeking  employment.  Ask  yourself  to  whom  you  would  apply. 
It  helps  little  that  the  demand  is  there  if  you  cannot  find  it.  The 
very  employer  seeking  further  help  will  probably  not  accept  you; 
he  does  not  know  you.  Who  are  you?  What  are  your  creden- 
tials? Why  are  you  not  already  at  work?  He  can  wait — you 
cannot.  He  seeks  a  contented,  steadfast,  trustworthy  servant. 
You  may  be  all  this,  but  he  does  not  know  it.  For  his  purposes, 
therefore,  you  are  not  all  this.  He  needs  more  than  an  efficient 
worker,  more  also  than  a  trustworthy  worker;  he  needs  one  whom 
he  knows  to  be  both  efficient  and  trustworthy.  All  these  adjust- 
ments of  supply  to  demand  take  time.  An  employee  losing  his 
place  and  finding  another  within  thirty  days  may  count  himself 
fortunate  beyond  the  average.  The  intermediate  period  is  to  be 
charged  up  to  friction,  lost  motion,  in  the  interplay  of  demand  and 
supply.  This  loss  quantity  is  never  a  small  one.  Consider  the 
transformations  constantly  occurring  in  modern  industry, — new 
inventions,  new  processes,  new  factories,  changing  demands  of 
time  and  season,  new  fashions,  new  centers  of  trade,  bankruptcies, 
retirements,  restrictions  of  output,  new  schedules  of  tariff,  specula- 
tions, booms,  strikes,  and  lockouts, — a  very  kaleidoscope  of  change, 
— and  one  begins  to  appreciate  the  causes  which  lie  back  of  dis- 
turbances in  employment.  Give  each  change  its  time  for  comple- 
tion, for  the  fitting  of  each  industrial  block  to  its  new  niche,  and 


66 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


the  phenomena  of  non-employment  are  seen  to  be  inevitable. 
The  best-disciplined  regiments  require  time  for  reforming  after 
ranks  are  broken.  The  streets  are  thronged  with  people,  by  the 
mere  going  to  and  fro  from  one  place  of  business  to  another; 
for  several  hours  of  the  day  the  ways  are  filled  with  passers  to  and 
from  their  meals. 

There  is,  then,  a  normal  and,  in  a  certain  sense,  healthful 
volume  of  non-employment. 

Even  were  seekers  of  employment  informed  of  the  various 
opportunities  for  employment,  and  did  questions  of  fitness  and 
proof  of  fitness  present  no  difficulties,  there  would  still  be  a  great 
measure  of  immobility  in  labor,  resulting  in  non-employment. 
Men  dislike  changes  of  home  even  if  they  are  able  to  make  them, 
and  are  often  unable  to  make  them  even  if  disposed.  When,  for 
example,  the  lace  factories  of  Nottingham  close  for  lack  of  demand, 
it  is  small  help  to  the  operative  that  in  Glasgow  or  in  Dublin 
there  is  employment  in  ship-building  or  iron-working.  Assume, 
also,  the  knowledge  of  the  opportunity  and  the  disposition  to 
embrace  it.  But  the  workman  cannot  move  his  cottage.  It  is, 
indeed,  common  enough  that  he  is  unable  to  undertake  the  expense 
of  moving  his  family  and  personal  belongings.  And  always  the 
risk  of  misfortune  or  failure  is  menaced  by  new  surroundings, 
strange  people,  and  new  methods. 

Nor  have  we  yet  done  with  the  important  influences  recruiting 
the  army  of  the  unemployed.  The  leading  characteristic  of  the 
modern  industrial  system  is  the  division  of  labor.  As  has  already 
been  remarked,  this  principle  applies  not  only  to  individuals, 
but  in  large  degree  to  communities,  states,  and  nations.  In 
sociology  as  well  as  in  biology,  specialization  of  function  involves 
interdependence.  In  complicated  machinery,  when  one  wheel 
fails  to  turn,  all  stand  still.  In  our  present  society  production 
depends  upon  exchange.  The  agriculturist  employs  the  mechanic 
and  vice  versa, — the  steppes  of  Russia,  the  workshops  of  Germany. 
So  if  the  American  Northwest  ceases  to  produce,  and  in  default 


PROFESSOR  H.  J.  DAVENPORT 


67 


of  production  ceases  to  buy,  the  industrial  centers  experience  a 
partial  paralysis.  A  crop  failure  in  several  states,  chiefly  agri- 
cultural, works  some  measure  of  non-employment  in  those  manu- 
facturing centers  with  which  the  barter  of  commerce  commonly 
takes  place.  At  the  best,  the  manufacturer  must  reach  out  to 
new  and  difficult  markets  of  low  profit-paying  quality.  Shut 
out  by  trade  restrictions  from  the  world's  currents  and  price 
levels,  the  process  is  necessarily  slow  and  painful.  For  the  agri- 
cultural states  the  case  is  evidently  still  worse. 

In  short,  there  comes  about  a  condition  of  want,  of  acute 
necessity,  which  yet  affords  no  demand  for  present  labor,  but 
rather  for  immediate  purposes  a  diminished  demand.  Ultimately, 
we  must  remember,  product  furnishes  demand  for  product. 
The  Northwest  will  not  demand  hats  or  shoes  until  it  can  produce 
wheat  or  meat.  The  manufacturing  states  must  do  their  exchang- 
ing with  such  agricultural  producers  as  have  produced.  Low 
prices,  therefore,  tend  to  follow  for  the  products  of  the  factory. 
Possibly  enough,  also,  slow  or  hard  collections  in  the  districts 
of  crop  failure  may  permanently  embarrass  some  centers  of  pro- 
duction. At  all  events,  the  condition  is  one  of  abnormally  low 
social  product  accompanied  for  a  time,  not  by  correspondingly 
large  outlay  of  productive  energies,  but  by  a  reduced  outlay. 
The  world  acutely  needs  more  grain  and  meat.  What  of  it? 
It  must  wait  until  another  year.  This  larger  requirement  will 
mean  increased  activity  when  next  year  comes;  it  means  stagna- 
tion now.  Agricultural  production  is  mostly  periodic.  Were 
the  question  of  hats  or  shoes,  a  disproportion  of  product  to  wants 
would  bring  about  a  stimulus  to  production.  Not  so  with  the 
industries  of  agriculture.  When  these  fail  in  product,  it  is  an 
empty  mouthing  of  generalities  to  assert  the  adequacy  of  employ- 
ment as  the  necessary  corollary  of  hunger.  Months  must  pass 
before  agriculture  will  renew  its  opportunities  of  employment. 
Other  industries  are  over-manned  at  present,  in  view  of  the  ab- 
normally restricted  market.    Even  did  they  offer  possible  employ- 


68 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


ment,  they  are  so  far  away  as  to  be  practically  inaccessible.  That 
agriculture  is  prospering  on  the  other  side  the  equator  helps  the 
agriculturist  on  this  side  not  at  all,  and  the  manufacturer  not  much. 

Recurring  conditions  of  non-employment  are  thus  inevitable 
in  society  as  at  present  organized.  But  the  difficulty  is  not  fairly 
to  be  ascribed  to  the  manner  of  organization.  It  results  from  the 
uncertainties  of  climate  and  the  periodic  nature  of  agricultural 
production.  These  failures  of  product  could  not  be  avoided  under 
any  circumstances.  Systems  can  differ  only  in  their  manner  of 
distributing  the  disaster. 

But  I  take  it  as  evident  that  in  these  later  aspects  of  the  case 
there  is  a  large  field  of  sendee  open  to  the  employment  bureau, 
not  merely  in  pointing  the  employer  to  a  certified  quality  of  labor, 
but  in  directing  the  laborer  to  that  industry  or  to  that  locality 
having  need  for  his  services, — and  possibly  in  some  cases  by  extend- 
ing the  laborer  financial  aid  in  moving  to  that  locality  where 
the  call  for  his  labor  exists. 

November  24, 1908. 


REPLY  FROM  PROF.  HENRY  W.  FARNAM, 
or  Yale  University 

My  general  impression  is  that  while  many  of  the  public  employ- 
ment agencies  are  useful,  especially  in  providing  for  seasonal 
laborers,  they  have  not  done  very  much  towards  handling  the 
mass  of  unemployment  which  comes  with  a  financial  crisis,  or 
adjusting  the  supply  to  the  needs  of  different  occupations;  for 
instance,  drawing  the  surplus  labor  of  the  cities  into  the  country 
districts  where  labor  is  often  at  a  premium.  My  own  view  is 
that  a  mere  employment  bureau  cannot  do  very  much  for  these 
cases,  but  that  an  effort  should  be  made  to  go  much  deeper  and  to 
pursue  the  aim  of  giving  each  man  two  trades.    This  sounds  quite 


PROFESSOR  FRANK  A.  FETTER 


6g 


impossible,  but  the  idea  is  not  in  my  judgment  impossible.  In 
itself,  the  main  thing  is  to  educate  the  public  sentiment  and  espe- 
cially labor  organizations  up  to  the  idea  of  the  double-barrelled 
man.  The  extent  to  which  immigrants  change  their  occupations 
and  the  number  of  individual  cases,  doubtless  known  to  us  all, 
where  a  man  can  do  more  than  one  thing,  all  prove  that  there  is 
nothing  inherently  impossible  in  it. 
November  21, 1908. 


REPLY  FROM  PROF.  FRANK  A.  FETTER, 
of  Cornell  University 

In  the  lack  of  reliable  statistics  on  the  topics  you  have  suggested, 
our  dependence  must  be  on  the  impressions  of  observers.  Natur- 
ally those  in  contact  with  the  problems  of  the  unemployed  in  our 
larger  cities,  and  especially  in  New  York,  are  most  competent 
to  form  judgments  in  this  matter.  But  some  facts  bearing  on  the 
question  may  be  evident  to  one  with  a  non-metropolitan  outiook 
which  may  be  either  overlooked  entirely  or  seen  in  a  different 
light  by  city  workers. 

I.  MAL- ADJUSTMENT    OF    EMPLOYMENT    IN    ClTIES.  Certain 

general  considerations  lead  me,  in  the  absence  of  exact  figures, 
to  the  belief  that  unemployment  is,  to  a  considerable  degree,  due 
to  mal-adjustment.  This  is  in  part  a  common  observation.  It 
is  apparently  inevitable  to  some  degree  because  of  the  more  com- 
plicated nature  of  industry  in  large  cities.  There  is  less  chance 
for  the  city  wage-earner  to  turn  to  a  side  occupation  than  there  is 
for  a  rural  worker.  The  higher  working  pace  in  the  cities  more 
quickly  throws  out  a  man  suffering  from  sickness,  accident,  or 
old  age,  a  fact  that  is  reflected  by  the  figures  showing  the  larger 
proportion  of  old  men  engaged  in  agriculture.  City  industry 
has  more  of  the  lottery  element,  giving  larger  prizes  to  the  successful 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


at  the  price  of  more  failures  for  the  average  man.  The  German 
census  of  the  unemployed  in  1895,  the  only  statistics  on  this 
subject  that  I  know  of  for  an  entire  country,  gives  the  following 
result.*    To  one  thousand  inhabitants  there  were  unemployed  in 

June.  December. 

Cities  over  100,000  11. 2  16.9 

Communes  10,000  to  100,000                    4.5  10.7 

Communes  under  10,000                         1.7  9.6 

That  a  similar  difference  would  be  found  in  America  as  between 
communities  of  different  density  of  population  can  hardly  be 
doubted  as  is  in  part  shown  by  figures  to  be  given  below.  These 
facts  may  be  interpreted  as  indicating  a  permanent  excess  of 
labor  in  cities  as  compared  with  agricultural  districts,  but  it 
seems  reasonable  to  infer  that  in  part  they  indicate  mal-adjust- 
ment  of  the  working  force  in  the  cities. 

As  to  the  fee  I  hesitate  to  express  an  a  priori  judgment,  but  I 
question  whether,  on  the  whole,  a  reasonable  fee  would  be  a 
disadvantage.  With  or  without  a  fee,  however,  it  must  be  recog- 
nized that  a  considerable  portion  of  the  unemployed  will  fail  to 
make  use  of  an  agency.  A  German  investigation  in  Stuttgart 
gave  the  remarkable  result  that  only  19.9  per  cent  of  the  unem- 
ployed attempted  to  get  employment  through  the  Labor  Bureau 
which  was  (probably,  though  of  this  I  am  not  certain)  public  and 
free.f 

2.  MAL- ADJUSTMENT  BETWEEN  COMMUNITIES.     The  few  facts 

at  hand  indicate  that  there  is  a  large  measure  of  such  maladjust- 
ment in  the  sense  that  a  considerable  number  may  be  unemployed 
in  the  cities  when  a  paying  occupation,  either  their  own  main 
occupation  or  one  which  they  could  successfully  follow,  could  be 
found  for  them  not  far  away.    As  suggested  above,  unemploy- 

*  (See  Georg  Schanz,  Neue  Beitrage  zur  Frage  der  Arbeitlosen-Versicherung, 
i897.) 

t  (See  Schanz,  Op.  cit.,  p.  191.) 


PROFESSOR  FRANK  A.  FETTER 


71 


ment  is  a  greater  problem  where  industry  has  become  largely 
specialized.  The  connection  would  seem  to  be  between  specializa- 
tion and  unemployment  rather  than  between  congestion  of  popula- 
tion and  unemployment,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  specialization 
goes  in  most  cases  along  with  larger  aggregations  of  population, 
or  "congestion,"  as  your  question  suggests.  But  this  is  not 
always  the  case,  for  a  smaller  population  given  almost  entirely  to 
one  industry,  as  in  a  mining  town,  or  in  a  manufacturing  city 
dependent  on  one  industry,  feels  the  effect  of  hard  times  in  an 
extreme  degree.  Agricultural  communities  and  smaller  cities 
supported  in  large  part  by  agricultural  trade  nearly  always  appear 
to  advantage  in  seasons  of  industrial  distress.  The  replies  from 
the  different  states  to  the  questionnaire  of  the  National  Conference 
of  Charities  in  1908  showed  that  the  southern  and  western  states 
in  a  number  of  cases  were  hardly  aware  of  the  existence  of  industrial 
depression  and  had  no  problem  of  unemployment.  In  a  general 
way  it  appeared  that  the  distress  was  most  marked  in  proportion 
to  the  dominance  of  manufacturing  and  large  cities.  On  the 
occasion  of  the  state  conference  recently,  citizens  of  Elmira  (in 
private  talks)  boasted  of  the  prosperity  of  the  community  and  the 
freedom  from  unemployment  and  said  it  was  the  policy  to  attract 
to  Elmira  a  large  variety  of  industries  so  that  the  effects  of  a  panic 
would  be  little  felt.  The  city  of  Ithaca  has  had  no  problem  of 
unemployment  in  any  special  sense  in  the  past  year.  Several 
members  of  labor  organizations  have  told  me  that  work  has  been 
abundant  in  the  building  trades  the  entire  year,  there  has  been  a 
relative  scarcity  of  skilled  labor  and  of  unskilled,  and  only  some 
small  reduction  in  the  factories  which  caused  no  local  distress  has 
taken  place.  The  columns  of  Charities  and  The  Commons  have 
reported  that  even  domestic  servants  have  been  in  superfluity  in 
New  York  City  during  the  present  year,  but  it  is  certain  that  many 
of  them  could  find  employment  in  Ithaca  and  similar  cities  at 
the  present  time  at  wages  quite  as  high  as  ever  have  been  paid  here, 
which  are  probably  higher  than  in  New  York  City. 


72 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


3.  Natural  Limits  to  Mobility  of  Labor.  Mobility  of 
labor  as  found  among  the  unemployed  would  seem  in  some  cases 
to  indicate  inferior  intelligence  and  skill  and  in  other  cases  superior 
intelligence  and  skill  in  those  adapting  themselves  to  the  need  by 
shifting  their  occupation.  A  few  words  of  explanation  of  this 
paradox  will  be  ventured. 

Broadly  speaking,  the  unemployed  are  the  relatively  inefficient 
in  any  occupation,  a  statement  that  is  almost  a  truism.  It  must 
happen,  therefore,  in  many  cases,  that  those  unemployed  are  most 
likely  to  be  forced  to  change  their  occupations  either  in  the  peren- 
nial hope  of  the  inefficient  of  bettering  their  condition,  or  from 
necessity,  dropping  down  the  industrial  scale  when  forced  out  of  an 
occupation  for  which  they  have  proved  unfitted.  An  investigation 
in  Dresden  showed  that  of  1,632  unemployed  men  in  June,  526 
had  been  engaged  just  before  in  some  other  than  their  main 
occupation,  and  of  3,503  unemployed  in  December,  1,176  had 
been  last  engaged  in  other  than  their  main  occupation.  This 
kind  of  mobility  is  not  ideal,  and  yet  is  hardly  all  bad  if  it  means 
in  part  the  change  from  a  calling  for  which  one  is  not  fitted  to  one 
which  can  be  better  done.  The  main  explanation,  however,  is 
probably  to  be  found  in  the  shifting  purpose  and  planless  lives 
of  the  cases  investigated. 

Mobility  in  other  cases  is  the  indication  of  superior  intelligence 
and  skill.  It  takes  greater  natural  ability  to  adapt  one's  self  to  a 
sudden  emergency  such  as  loss  of  employment,  and  this  adapta- 
bility undoubtedly  can  be  strengthened  by  industrial  training* 
The  change  from  agricultural  to  manufacturing  and  from  rural 
to  city  conditions  has  been  so  rapid  that  our  education,  as  is  now 
generally  recognized,  has  not  kept  pace  with  it.  The  present 
degree  of  immobility  is  not  to  be  deemed  inevitable,  and  the 
possibility  of  its  decrease  with  machine  workers  is  surely  great. 
Instead  of  a  rule-of-thumb  knowledge  of  a  single  machine,  there 
needs  to  be  more  general  training  in  mechanical  principles  and 


PROFESSOR  FRANK  A.  FETTER 


73 


the  cultivation  of  adaptability  in  the  great  mass  of  the  working 
population. 

Mobility  is  affected  by  seasonal  changes  and  there  is  large  chance 
for  adjustment  between  agricultural  and  manufacturing  oc- 
cupations. We  living  in  the  country  hear  the  constant  call  for 
farm  help  from  early  spring  to  the  end  of  summer.  It  is  true  that 
the  conditions  of  work  on  the  farm  are  such  as  are  not  familiar  to 
the  city  worker,  and  doubtless  some  changes  must  be  made  in  this 
regard  before  the  desired  mobility  as  between  city  and  country  can 
be  obtained.  The  busy  season  in  manufacturing  is  in  the  months 
September,  October  and  November,*  when  not  only  the  busy 
canning  season,  but  special  orders  for  the  holidays  are  crowding. 
The  average  number  employed  per  month  during  these  three 
months  exceeded  the  average  number  for  the  entire  year  by  155,- 
000.  t  It  has  been  the  social  ideal  of  many  reformers  to  provide 
an  alternation  of  employment  and  especially  to  enable  workers 
in  city  factories  to  spend  a  part  of  the  time  in  the  country. 
Therefore,  anything  that  would  reduce  unemployment  by  increas- 
ing mobility  in  this  regard  would  be  a  double  blessing. 

One  of  the  greatest  difficulties  in  such  an  adjustment  is  the  sub- 
jective one,  the  inertia  of  the  city  worker  and  his  feeling  of  help- 
lessness in  taking  an  unaccustomed  occupation.  Specialization 
gets  men  out  of  the  habit  of  adapting  themselves  to  new  conditions 
of  employment.  I  believe  that  we  need  to  recognize  that  this 
difficulty  is  more  psychological  than  merely  physical  or  because  of 
lack  of  manual  training.  In  smaller  cities,  only  a  little  less  than  is 
the  case  on  farms,  the  worker  does  many  things  in  the  course  of 
the  week.  Trade  union  rules  perhaps  help  to  confirm  this  habit  of 
immobility  in  large  cities.  For  the  past  year  or  more  a  good  deal 
of  my  gardening  and  lawn  work  has  been  done  by  a  stone  mason, 
who  works  regularly  at  his  trade  at  full  union  wages  when  the  build- 

*See  Census  Bulletin  57,  p.  11. 

fldem.  p.  23,  the  total  given  under  "greatest  number"  is, I  judge, a  statistical 
fallacy. 


74 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


ing  season  is  on.  In  the  West  I  have  known  many  factory  workers 
with  their  entire  families  to  go  out  to  work  in  the  country,  for  ex- 
ample, in  Oregon  at  hop-picking.  I  dwell  on  these  things  indicat- 
ing tasks  outside  of  the  usual  functions  of  employment  agencies  to 
raise  the  question  whether  those  functions  should  not  be  thought  of 
more  broadly,  especially  in  their  educational  aspects. 

The  work  of  such  a  bureau  might  well  be  directed  in  other  un- 
conventional lines;  for  example,  the  possibility  of  using  public 
work,  as  road  building,  etc.,  as  a  balance  wheel  is  well  worth  study- 
ing, for  we  have  not  done  as  much  in  America  as  has  been  done  in 
other  countries  in  this  matter.  The  proposed  Employment  Bureau 
will,  I  hope,  be  conducted  with  a  larger  social  aim  than  any  of  the 
efforts  in  the  past.  The  application  of  sound  principles  of  industrial 
education,  the  developing  of  better  relations  between  the  differ- 
ent industries,  the  study  of  the  individual  workers  and  their  capa- 
cities, the  classifying  of  them  in  accordance  with  their  various 
degrees  of  adaptability,  are  all  problems  calling  for  consideration. 
The  reasonable  hope  of  benefit  from  such  an  undertaking  is  great 
when  we  consider  that  the  change  of  a  few  workers  will  help  to 
preserve  the  equilibrium  in  industry  both  as  between  the  different 
occupations  at  a  given  moment  in  a  single  community,  and  as  be- 
tween the  different  communities  making  up  our  national  economy. 
The  delicately  adjusted  employment  machinery  should  act  like  a 
gyroscope  by  shifting  the  free  labor  supply  promptly  to  the  point 
where  it  is  most  needed. 

November  28,  1908. 


REPLY  FROM  PROF.  (EMERITUS)  WM.  W.  FOLWELL, 
of  the  University  of  Minnesota 

In  regard  to  question  1,  I  will  suggest  that  since  it  is  safe  to 
assume  that  in  "large  cities"  many  men  are  always  out  of  work 


PROFESSOR  WILLIAM  W.  FOLWELL 


75 


because  they  cannot  or  will  not  find  jobs,  it  is  not  important  that 
any  precise  ratio  be  established.  The  proportion  should  of  course 
be  largest  in  your  great  seaboard  cities  where  immigrants  are 
dumped,  and  smallest  in  our  interior  rapidly  growing  cities.  In 
good  times  there  is  a  shortage  of  all  kinds  of  labor  in  some  of  the 
latter.  I  cannot  think  that  employers  would  object  to  paying 
reasonable  fees  for  efficient  service.  They  would  object  to  paying 
fees  for  men  who  would  "skip  out"  soon  after  reaching  destination. 

As  to  Number  2,  it  seems  to  me  that  local  mal- adjustment  is 
to  some  extent  national,  and  is  due  to  the  interplay  of  two  great 
forces.  One  of  these  is  attachment  to  home,  which  in  spite  of  ap- 
pearances is  still  powerful.  A  similar  sentiment  keeps  immi- 
grants in  the  places  where  they  happen  to  settle  soon  after  arrival. 
I  remember  the  wrench  it  took  to  move  me  from  the  "Lake  Coun- 
try" of  central  New  York  to  northern  Ohio.  The  other  force  is 
the  passion  for  adventure  and  movement  felt  by  all  of  us  at  some 
time  of  life. 

I  do  not  see  how  anybody  can  tell  beforehand  "the  extent" 
to  which  the  surplus  labor  of  New  York  City  can  be  shipped  to 
other  cities.  As  new  industries  are  opened  in  western  cities  the 
East  is  drawn  on  for  skilled  laborers.  We  have,  for  instance,  in 
Minneapolis,  considerable  manufactures  of  shoes,  hosiery,  labor- 
ers' underwear,  and  overalls.  I  suppose  the  operatives  were  mostly 
imported  from  the  East.  I  doubt  if  any  considerable  market  will 
be  found  for  unskilled  labor  shipped  from  the  East.  There  is 
talk  of  the  establishment  here  of  an  enormous  packing  plant  by 
the  Armours.  In  fact  they  have  bought  near  a  thousand  acres 
of  land  about  one  mile  from  where  I  am  writing.  It  may  be  that 
your  Bureau  could  "ship"  out  two  or  three  thousand  men  when 
the  concern  starts  up. 

As  to  Number  3,  we  have  not  statistics  enough  to  warrant  a 
guess.  The  distribution  of  labor  to  the  several  industries  is,  I 
think,  beyond  any  calculus,  and  can  only  be  solved  by  experiment, 
or  perhaps  I  should  say,  experience. 


76 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


When  the  country  comes  to  be  completely  occupied,  and  immi- 
gration is  reduced  to  an  inconsiderable  increment  of  population, 
and  all  the  arts  have  been  brought  to  perfection,  we  may  begin  to 
guess  about  a  normal  distribution  of  labor. 

Without  any  statistics  or  estimated  ratios,  we  have  good  ground 
to  believe  that  such  a  bureau  as  you  propose  might  do  much  good 
service.  You  will,  in  my  judgment,  do  well  to  make  an  experiment, 
if  you  can  find  sufficient  means. 

I  suspect  that,  if  you  undertake  it,  you  will  find  very  great  diffi- 
culties of  administration.  You  will  be  suspected  of  unloading 
paupers  and  dead-beats  on  the  western  cities.  You  will  have  to 
devise  some  means  by  which  the  men  sent  out  shall  actually  stick 
to  work  for  the  employers  who  send  for  them.  You  will  need 
reliable  agents  in  many  places.  Competition  of  private  employ- 
ment agencies  will  embarrass.    Advertising  will  be  a  great  expense. 

For  one  I  should  like  to  have  the  experiment  made.  It  might 
furnish  an  excellent  object  lesson  on  which  some  day  to  form  a 
national  employment  bureau.  Perhaps  a  national  "  intelligence 
office"  would  best  be  tried  at  the  first. 

Query:  Might  it  not  be  well  for  your  proposed  Bureau  to 
begin  as  an  " intelligence  office"?  I  suspect  that  a  force  of  field 
agents  would  be  necessary  to  keep  the  office  advised  as  to  actual 
needs  of  localities.  If  you  can  get  the  money,  try  it  by  all  means. 
.   November  23, 1908. 


REPLY  FROM  PROF.  J.  E.  HAGERTY, 
of  Ohio  State  University 

I  am  very  much  interested  in  your  effort  to  organize  an  employ- 
ment bureau.  Of  course,  you  know  we  have  a  public  employment 
bureau  in  Ohio,  with  a  local  branch  in  Columbus.  Up  to  date, 
the  bureau  has  been  worthless,  and  an  expense  to  the  state.  The 


PROFESSOR  J.  E.  HAGERTY 


77 


superintendent  of  the  local  branch  has  been,  all  along,  a  politician 
who  has  utterly  failed  to  appreciate  the  duties  of  the  office. 

It  seems  to  me  the  only  way  to  establish  an  employment  bureau, 
at  least  now,  is  to  organize  one  under  private  control. 

I  will  endeavor  to  take  up  your  questions  in  order : 

1.  I  believe  that  unemployment  is  due  to  mal-adjustment  to  a 
considerable  extent,  especially  in  that  class  of  labor  which  would 
not  be  classified  as  unskilled.  I  presume  organized  labor  has  no 
difficulty  in  rinding  employment  where  employment  is  to  be  had. 
Clerical  labor,  or  labor  just  above  the  unskilled  sort,  I  think,  meets 
with  difficulty  in  finding  employment.  In  many  cases  such  a 
bureau  would  be  of  service  to  the  unskilled.  Of  course,  in  times 
like  the  present,  when  unemployment  is  due  to  industrial  condi- 
tions, is  would  be  difficult  for  an  employment  bureau  to  be  effective. 
At  the  outset,  I  believe  charging  the  employers  a  fee  would  be  a 
hindrance  to  the  development  of  the  bureau.  On  the  other  hand, 
I  think  that  a  small  fee  charged  the  employee  in  case  he  found 
employment,  would  be  an  advantage.  He  would  appreciate 
the  service  rendered  him,  and  I  think  that  he  could  distinguish 
between  the  legitimate  employment  bureau  which  is  under  private 
control,  and  the  one  that  is  organized  primarily  to  fleece  the  wage- 
earner. 

2.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  mal-adjustment  as  between  com- 
munities. That  mal-adjustment  is  especially  obvious  between 
communities  like  Columbus  and  rural  districts.  If  frequently 
happens  here  that  there  is  a  strong  demand  for  labor  in  the  country, 
while  men  are  seeking  employment  in  the  city.  An  employment 
bureau  would  be  of  service  in  getting  this  surplus  population  out 
on  the  farms.  As  between  different  communities,  I  think,  too, 
that  such  an  employment  bureau  would  be  of  advantage.  Indus- 
trial conditions  may  create  a  glut  in  the  labor  market  at  one  point, 
and  a  dearth  of  labor  at  another  point.  A  well-organized  bureau 
which  engages  in  an  aggressive  campaign  in  learning  the  conditions 
of  the  labor  market,  would,  I  believe,  be  of  great  value.    I  do  not 


78 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  TOR  NEW  YORK 


think  that  the  over- supply  of  labor  in  cities  is  a  feature  of  "con- 
gested populations." 

3.  Of  course,  there  are  natural  limits  to  the  mobility  of  labor 
in  change  of  occupation,  but  the  unskilled  labor  and  that  slightly 
above  it  can  change  with  ease  from  one  occupation  to  another, 
and  it  is  at  these  points  that  the  labor  problem  is  a  difficult  one. 
Here,  I  think  you  could  get  enough  to  shift  from  one  occupation 
to  another  to  relieve  the  pressure  at  one  point  and  to  supply  the 
labor  market  at  another. 

I  think  there  is  a  real  need  and  that  there  are  great  possibilities 
in  a  thoroughly  organized  employment  bureau.  Such  an  employ- 
ment bureau,  of  course,  I  need  not  say,  would  have  close  relations 
and  a  good  understanding  with  employers  of  all  classes,  and  a 
knowledge  of  labor,  upon  the  other  hand.  No  individual  should 
be  recommended  for  a  position  who  is  not  qualified  to  hold  it. 
The  principle  of  "  first  come,  first  served,"  should  not  apply  here. 

November  25, 1908. 


REPLY  FROM  MR.  JAMES  MULLENBACH, 
Superintendent  of  the  Municipal  Lodging  House  of  Chicago 

Although  I  have  had  no  time  to  prepare  a  careful  statement, 
I  am  venturing  to  send  you  some  information  and  a  few  opinions 
based  on  our  observation  and  experience  at  the  Municipal  Lodging 
House.    I  shall  take  up  each  of  your  inquiries  in  order. 

To  what  extent  unemployment  in  our  large  cities  is  due  merely 
to  mal-adjustment. 

The  following  groups  seem  to  be  especially  affected  by  lack  of 
information,  or  of  false  information  as  to  where  work  is  to  be  found. 

1.  Newcomers  to  the  city  from  the  country,  naturally  unac- 
quainted with  places  of  employment.  They  do  not  know  where  the 
jobs  are. 


JAMES  MULLENBACH 


79 


2.  Immigrants,  also  unacquainted  with  the  city  and  the  customs 
of  the  country  and  with  the  additional  handicap  of  not  knowing  the 
language.  This  is  not  so  true  of  those  nations  that  have  been  send- 
ing immigrants  to  America  for  so  long  a  time  that  they  have  been 
able  to  create  their  own  agencies.  For  example,  the  Swedish 
National  Association  maintains  one  of  the  most  efficient  and  re- 
liable agencies  in  Chicago.  Those  nations  whose  people  have  only 
recently  begun  to  come  to  this  country,  seem  to  be  most  open  to 
exploitation,  the  Bulgarians,  for  example.  An  agency  in  Chicago 
charged  a  group  of  them  as  high  as  $5  for  a  job  on  the  railroad. 

3.  Men  who  do  not  know  how  to  approach  an  employer  for  a 
job.  The  art  of  getting  a  job  sometimes  surpasses  the  skill  re- 
quired to  do  it. 

4.  Those  exploited  by  regular  employment  agencies.  The  num- 
ber of  labor  agencies  and  the  extent  of  their  operations,  their 
specialization,  L  e.  their  division  of  labor,  would  indicate  the  need 
of  a  real  Employment  Exchange.  In  Chicago  we  have  about  200 
of  these  offices,  and  they  negotiate  employment  from  lowest  casual 
and  unskilled  labor  up  to  high  salaried  positions  in  our  big  business 
houses, — all  this  in  competition  with  the  newspapers.  No  com- 
plaint could  be  made,  if  honesty  and  efficiency  generally  prevailed, 
but  I  am  sure  that  some  of  the  unemployment  in  the  city  is  due  to 
their  inefficiency  and  dishonesty  of  the  agencies.  Scarcely  a  night 
passes  at  our  Lodging  House  that  some  victim  of  these  agencies 
does  not  report.  While  I  would  not  wish  to  place  a  percentage  esti- 
mate upon  this  exploitation  as  a  cause  of  unemployment,  I  am 
sure  it  is  a  very  definite  factor.  It  is  my  opinion  that  we  shall 
not  be  able  to  deal  with  the  general  problem  of  employment  until 
we  get  this  matter  of  mal-adjustment  taken  care  of  in  some  intelli- 
gent way. 

As  to  the  various  classes  of  help  that  you  indicate, — clerical, 
skilled,  unskilled,  etc., — so  far  as  my  observation  goes  the  clerical 
seem  to  suffer  less,  that  is,  they  seem  to  be  able  to  know  quicker 


80  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

where  work  is  to  be  found,  probably  because  of  newspaper  adver- 
tisements. 

As  for  skilled  men,  the  organized  trades  look  after  their  own 
unemployed.  In  Chicago  all  of  the  leading  trades  are  so  well 
organized  that  most  of  the  business  agents  of  the  unions  act,  or 
their  office  acts,  as  the  labor  agent  for  the  men.  About  one-third 
of  our  lodgers  are  skilled  men,  but  union  men  in  good  standing 
have  no  trouble  as  a  rule  in  getting  work  at  once  through  their 
unions.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  they  form  only  a  small  percentage  of 
the  number  of  skilled.  The  balance  is  made  up  chiefly  of  drifting 
craftsmen,  whose  unemployment  is  due  mainly  to  the  present 
depression,  but  in  normal  times  to  the  increasing  tendency  toward 
rush  and  dull  seasons  in  the  trades.  The  unorganized  workers 
find  it  much  more  difficult  to  find  work  on  account  of  their  lack  of 
knowledge  as  to  the  jobs. 

The  unskilled  fall  chiefly  into  three  groups,  the  factory  workers, 
the  casual  laborers,  railroad  laborers,  etc.,  and  the  local  odd  job 
men.  As  for  the  first  group,  I  believe  they  are  only  partly  depen- 
dent on  the  employment  agency,  and  rely  mainly  on  the  "ad"  and 
the  legend  "Help  wanted"  in  the  window.  As  for  the  casual 
laborers, — the  railroad  navvies,  deck  hands,  ice-cutters,  harvest- 
hands,  loggers, — they  are  almost  entirely  dependent  upon  labor 
agents  for  the  jobs.  The  same  is  true  of  all  kinds  of  construction 
work,  excavating,  etc.  This  group  is  subject  to  all  forms  of 
exploitation  by  the  agents, — overcharges  and  misdirection.  It 
may  be  that  this  is  peculiar  to  Chicago,  as  casual  laborers,  I  have 
been  told,  are  not  so  numerous  in  New  York.  Concerning  the  odd 
job  men,  only  those  employed  in  restaurants  and  hotels  seem  to 
depend  very  much  on  the  agencies.  A  good  share  of  the  others  get 
their  "steer"  for  a  job  through  the  news  "ad." 

II.  Mal-adjustment  between  communities. 

So  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  observe,  the  demand  for  men 
outside  of  the  city  is  confined  mainly  to  casual  labor,  construction 
work  and  farm  work,  with  here  and  there  some  factory  demand. 


JAMES  MULLENBACH 


81 


I  believe  a  bureau  such  as  you  are  contemplating  would  do  much 
to  eliminate  the  exploitation  of  these  groups  by  the  regular  agencies 
in  Chicago.  The  difficulty  has  been  to  get  the  employers,  rail- 
roads and  others,  to  co-operate.  I  know  this  has  been  our  experi- 
ence and  also  the  experience  of  the  State  Free  Employment  Bu- 
reaus. So  far  as  the  casual  labor  and  the  farm  groups  are  con- 
cerned, permanent  withdrawal  from  the  city  cannot  be  expected, 
so  long  as  the  present  conditions  of  seasonal  occupation  continue. 
Unemployed  seek  the  city  for  several  reasons ; 

1.  There  is  always  "something  doing"  in  a  city  and,  though 
there  are  more  men  for  the  jobs  probably,  the  out-of-work  prefers 
to  take  his  chance. 

2.  One  can  always  keep  warm  and  alive  in  the  city,  with  less 
risk  of  social  isolation  and  ostracism  than  in  a  small  town  or  the 
countryside.  My  observation  at  the  Municipal  Lodging  House 
is  that  the  chances  for  employment  in  the  small  town  or  country 
are  not  as  good  as  in  the  city.  If  I  were  an  out-of-work,  I  am 
sure  I  would  rather  take  my  chance  in  Chicago  than  in  Rockford 
or  Woodstock  or  some  other  well-to-do  and  eminently  respectable 
Illinois  town.  A  good  employment  agency  might  be  able  to 
negotiate  a  job  for  me  at  one  of  these  places, — a  job  I  could  not 
find  myself,  and  I  probably  would  be  willing  to  take  it.  While 
there  is  a  good  deal  of  feeling  that  a  man  can  get  a  job  in  the  country 
and  the  farmers  are  in  need  of  men  all  the  time,  I  think  it  will  be 
found  that  they  want  the  help  chiefly  during  certain  seasons,  as 
for  instance,  at  harvesting  time. 

On  this  point  of  mal-adjustment  between  communities,  I 
would  say  that  I  do  not  believe  that  small  communities  will  offer 
much  opportunity  for  taking  up  the  surplus  labor  of  our  large 
cities,  and  that  an  employment  agency  would  be  doing  its  best 
service  in  placing  the  casual  and  unskilled  labor  that  is  now  placed 
and  exploited  by  other  agencies.  On  occasion  opportunities  for 
sending  out  men  to  permanent  employment  in  the  country  or 
small  town  would  arise,  but  they  would  not  be  so  numerous  as  to 
6 


82 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


greatly  affect  the  city's  unemployed.  In  other  words  I  think  the 
geographical  mobility  is  confined  to  certain  well  defined  forms  of 
labor,  seasonal  and  casual,  and  that  our  unemployed  problem  is  not 
local  but  national ;  that  the  reason  there  is  an  over-supply  of  labor 
in  the  city  is  because  the  state  of  unemployment  is  more  endurable 
in  the  city  than  in  the  country,  having  more  hope  for  relief  through 
getting  a  job  or  through  charity,  and  suffering  less  hardship  while 
waiting  for  either. 

III.  Natural  limits  of  occupational  mobility.  We  seem  to 
find  these  limits  much  narrower  than  we  had  supposed.  For 
example,  we  have  found  it  difficult  for  a  man  trained  as  cabinet 
maker  to  become  a  carpenter,  though  the  two  trades  seem  nearly 
related.  Good  German  farm  hands  are  not  acceptable  on  our 
Illinois  farms  because  they  do  not  know  how  to  milk,  even  when 
the  farms  are  not  strictly  dairy  farms.  In  following  the  disin- 
tegration of  trades  as  it  has  come  to  our  observation,  it  is  rare  that 
the  craftsmen  as  a  body  take  up  the  machine  that  is  exploiting 
them  and  use  it  for  the  foundation  of  a  new  trade.  Just  now  the 
autos  are  putting  the  cab  drivers  "on  the  bum,"  to  use  the  expres- 
sion of  one  of  them,  but  there  are  few  cab  drivers  becoming  chauf- 
feurs. The  same  is  true  of  the  tanners  and  the  glass  workers. 
The  limits  of  such  a  transfer  from  one  calling  to  another  seem  to 
be  determined  on  the  part  of  the  man  by  his  youth  and  initiative, 
and  on  the  part  of  the  trade  by  the  fact  as  to  whether  the  disin- 
tegrating force  at  work  on  the  trade  or  calling  attacks  it  so  suddenly 
and  completely  as  practically  to  supplant  the  craftsman.  Able- 
bodied  tradesmen  seem  to  drift  into  the  unskilled  and  casual  labor 
groups,  while  such  weaker  ones  as  printers  take  to  such  work  as 
restaurant,  hotel,  circularizing  and  canvassing. 

On  this  point  my  opinion  is  that  while  the  Bureau  you  have  in 
mind  would  doubtless  help  in  placing  misplaced  or  displaced  men 
in  better  lines  of  work  than  they  might  be  able  to  find  themselves, 
the  operation  of  the  Bureau  would  be  quite  restricted  by  difficulties 
inherent  in  the  situation. 


JAMES  MULLENBACH 


83 


To  sum  up,  I  believe  an  Employment  Bureau  would  do  much 
to  cure  the  mal-adjustment  locally.  It  would  protect  the  innocent, 
the  uninformed  and  the  unwary  from  exploitation,  would  set  a 
standard  for  other  agencies,  and  render  positive  service  to  the 
community  as  a  reliable  and  efficient  clearing  office  for  men  and 
jobs.  It  would  be  able  to  negotiate  for  the  transfer  of  unemployed 
from  city  to  country  where  opportunity  offered,  and  doubtless 
would  turn  up  opportunities  that  are  now  overlooked  or  hidden, 
In  the  region  of  occupational  mobility  its  service  would  be  valuable, 
but  somewhat  restricted  by  the  natural  limits  of  the  movement 
from  one  calling  to  another.  Of  course,  no  one  is  supposing  that 
such  mediation  as  a  Bureau,  even  at  its  best,  may  be  able  to  give, 
will  " settle  the  question  of  the  unemployed,"  as  it  is  commonly  put; 
but  such  an  agency  would  eliminate  some  of  the  perplexing  ele- 
ments of  the  situation  and  give  a  better  grip  on  it.  Anything  that 
will  remove  the  subsidiary  and  get  nearer  to  the  bona  fide  causes 
of  unemployment  will  help  to  "settle  it." 

As  to  fees  and  one  or  two  other  things  concerning  the  operation, 
our  experience  at  the  Municipal  Lodging  House  leads  me  to 
believe  that  it  would  be  a  good  thing  to  charge  the  employer  a  fee. 
When  employers  get  help  without  charge  they  are  apt  to  consider 
the  help  as  cheap,  pay  low  wages,  exact  unreasonable  service,  alter 
original  terms,  and  to  be  captious.  Anything  that  would  create 
the  feeling  among  employers  that  the  Bureau  was  a  straight 
business  proposition,  gotten  up  for  the  relief  of  no  one,  but  for  the 
best  service  of  any  one  who  wanted  good,  well  selected  help,  and 
willing  to  pay  for  it,  would  be  a  good  thing.  I  believe  the  fee 
would  help  toward  this.  Too  many  employers  assume  that 
because  a  man  is  down  and  out  he  should  be  "  willing  to  work  for 
anything  rather  than  accept  charity."  Hence  it  is  wise  to  avoid 
the  appearance  of  dealing  only  with  the  unemployed  or  the  down- 
and-out  men. 

Nevertheless  it  will  be  necessary  at  the  outset  to  get  the  active 
interest  and  co-operation  of  some  employers  in  order  to  make  a 


s4 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


good  start.  The  casual  labor  end  of  it  can  not  be  handled  success- 
fully unless  the  railroad  and  steamship  managements  co-operate. 

Another  group  whose  interest  and  co-operation  will  be  valuable 
is  organized  labor.  One  of  the  matters  that  came  up  for  decision 
soon  after  we  began  our  employment  bureau  at  the  Municipal 
Lodging  House  was  the  policy  regarding  labor  troubles.  It 
seemed  well  not  to  send  men  to  plants  that  were  having  trouble 
with  their  men.  In  case  of  strike  we  have  always  refused  to  fur- 
nish help.  I  may  add  that  this  is  the  policy  of  the  State  Free 
Employment  offices  of  Illinois  and  of  Ohio.  Opportunities  for 
mutual  co-operation  and  assistance  will  arise  from  time  to  time 
between  the  bureau  and  the  business  agents  of  the  unions. 

November  27,  1908. 


REPLY  FROM  PROF.  E.  A.  ROSS, 
of  the  University  of  Wisconsin 

In  my  judgment  the  labor  situation  in  New  York  City  is  dis- 
tinctly anomalous  owing  to  the  constant  influx  of  ignorant  and 
helpless  immigrants  who  lodge  there  and  depress  the  labor  market 
because  of  their  lack  of  knowledge  of  opportunities  out  in  the 
country.  In  normal  times  there  is  more  difficulty  in  equilibrating 
the  supply  and  demand  in  the  New  York  labor  market  than  in 
other  labor  markets.  In  times  of  depression  the  unemployment 
there  is  more  acute.  I  have  long  felt  that  artificial  means  ought 
to  be  provided  for  distributing  the  surplus  labor  in  New  York  out 
through  the  country  where  the  opportunities  exist.  The  sending 
of  local  unemployed  a  considerable  distance  in  quest  of  jobs 
requires,  however,  more  conscientiousness  and  good  faith  than  a 
private  employment  agency  ordinarily  exercises.  As  few  of  the 
seekers  of  employment  are  in  a  position  to  discriminate  between 
the  honest  and  the  fraudulent  agency,  there  is  an  opportunity  for 


PROFESSOR  E.  A.  ROSS 


85 


the  latter  to  flourish  and  even  to  make  difficult  the  survival  of  the 
honest  agency.  This  summer  there  were  shocking  revelations  of 
financial  exploitation  of  helpless,  newly  arrived  immigrants  by 
certain  Chicago  employment  agencies.  The  agencies  charged 
them  high  fees  for  sending  them  great  distances  in  search  of  jobs 
which  were  merely  temporary  or  had  long  since  been  filled. 

Besides  its  consciousness  of  a  fiduciary  relation  to  its  clients  an 
employment  bureau  of  the  kind  contemplated  would  be  able  by  a 
correspondence  with  the  secretaries  of  local  charity  organizations 
and  the  offices  of  similar  societies  to  build  up  an  organization  by 
means  of  which  statements  of  employers  in  their  vicinity  as  to  the 
amount,  duration,  remuneration,  and  conditions  of  the  employment 
they  propose  to  furnish,  could  be  promptly  and  reliably  verified. 
In  this  respect  the  agency  would  have  a  great  advantage  over 
private  agencies. 

As  yet  state  employment  bureaus  are  subject  to  the  dry  rot  of 
perfunctoriness.  The  time  may  come  when  the  state  can  provide 
efficient  machinery  for  getting  the  unemployed  in  congested  centers 
like  New  York  out  to  points  where  their  labor  is  desired.  But  it 
is  likely  that  this  will  not  occur  until  some  such  bureau  as  is  pro- 
posed shows  the  state  how  to  do  it. 

Certain  facts  that  have  fallen  under  my  observation  lead  me  to 
believe  that  in  ordinary  times  unemployment  is  far  more  a  local 
phenomenon  than  is  generally  supposed.  Last  year  our  State 
Tax  Commission  concluded  an  investigation  of  mortgage  loans  in 
this  state  which  demonstrated  that  the  interest  on  such  loans  is 
almost  out  of  relation  to  the  course  of  the  general  money  market, 
but  depends  upon  the  relation  between  the  local  supply  of  and  the 
local  demand  for  loanable  capital.  In  the  frontier  counties  of 
this  state  the  rate  of  interest  on  such  loans  was  with  equally  good 
security  about  double  what  it  is  in  the  counties  that  have  accumu- 
lated more  capital.  This  astonishing  exhibit  turned  my  thoughts 
in  the  direction  of  considering  how  far  a  local  rate  for  labor  or 
capital  are  special  and  how  far  they  reflect  general  or  national 


86 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


conditions.  The  result  is  a  growing  impression  that  local  labor 
markets  are  not  sections  or  provinces  of  a  general  labor  market, 
but  markets  of  a  considerable  individuality.  There  are  parts  of 
the  country  where  the  labor  market  is  habitually  a  bull  market. 
New  York  City,  for  the  reason  I  gave  above,  is  on  the  other  hand 
a  bear  market.  It  is,  therefore,  rational  to  help  the  unemployed 
by  taking  advantage  of  the  different  complexion  of  labor  markets. 

November  24,  1908. 


REPLY  FROM  PROF.  HENRY  R.  SEAGER, 
of  Columbia  University 

It  gives  me  pleasure  to  reply  to  the  questions  contained  in  your 
letter  of  the  20th  instant,  although  circumstances  have  prevented 
me  from  collecting  any  exact  information  to  back  up  the  opinions 
which  I  express.  They  are  the  fruit  of  some  study  of  the  labor 
problem  during  the  six  years  that  I  have  lived  in  New  York,  and 
some  knowledge  of  the  work  of  an  employment  bureau  gathered 
through  a  connection  with  the  Alliance  Employment  Bureau  dur- 
ing the  last  two  years. 

1.  Distinguishing  between  unemployment  in  periods  of  active 
trade  and  unemployment  due  to  general  business  depression,  and 
confining  attention  to  the  first,  I  should  say  that  in  New  York  City 
there  is  at  all  times  a  good  deal  of  unemployment  due  to  mal-ad- 
justment  between  seekers  after  work  and  opportunities  for  employ- 
ment within  the  city.  The  causes  of  this  mal-adjustment  are: 
(1)  Irregular  employment  in  many  trades;  (2)  the  rise  and  fall 
of  particular  employing  firms,  forcing  a  constant  shifting  of  em- 
ployees from  employer  to  employer;  (3)  immigration  and  the  un- 
adjusted immigrant  worker  which  results  from  it;  (4)  the  absence 
of  any  satisfactory  agency  or  agencies  for  properly  classifying  work- 
men in  search  of  employment,  so  that  employers  can  be  relieved 


PROFESSOR  HENRY  R.  SEAGER 


87 


in  part  of  the  task  of  trying-out  new  hands.  Among  working 
women  and  girls  especially,  there  is  a  great  amount  of  mal-adjust- 
ment  owing  to  the  frequency  with  which  employees  are  engaged 
for  work  for  which  they  are  not  fitted,  only  to  be  turned  off  after  a 
short  trial  discouraged  rather  than  benefited  by  the  experience. 

A  complete  classification  of  employments  would  show,  I  think, 
that  this  unemployment  falls  most  heavily  on  the  relatively  unskilled 
and  unorganized  workers.  Women  suffer  from  it  more  than  men; 
girls  and  boys  more  than  women. 

I  don't  believe  that  charging  a  small  fee  would  deter  employers 
from  applying  to  a  Bureau  like  that  proposed  provided  the  Bureau 
gained  a  reputation  for  supplying  the  type  of  workers  needed  rather 
than  workers  many  oj  whom  would  prove  on  trial  to  be  unsatisfactory. 
Employers  complain  a  great  deal  of  the  service  rendered  by  existing 
employment  bureaus  managed  for  private  gain. 

2.  In  a  city  like  New  York  and  a  country  like  the  United  States 
mal-adjustment  of  the  labor  supply  to  the  demand  between  dif- 
ferent sections  is,  for  obvious  reasons,  much  more  serious  than  in 
older,  more  conservative  and  more  homogeneous  communities. 
My  impression  is  that  the  attractions  of  city  life,  the  position  of 
New  York  as  the  leading  port  of  entry  for  immigrants  to  the  country 
and  the  irregularity  of  many  of  the  principal  industries  carried  on 
in  the  city  (e.  g.  the  clothing  trades,  the  building  trades,  etc.)  give 
rise  to  a  continuous  over- supply  of  seekers  after  employment  in 
New  York  City  and  that  much  more  could  be  done  than  has  yet 
been  attempted  to  relieve  the  congestion  of  population  there  by 
finding  work  for  the  unemployed  in  other  sections. 

3.  For  purposes  of  discussion  the  following  very  rough  classi- 
fication of  the  workers  who  might  be  assisted  by  an  employment 
bureau  may  be  helpful:  (I)  Unskilled  workers,  (a)  of  the  factory 
operative  type,  (b)  those  with  the  physical  strength  and  mental 
characteristics  of  contented  farm  laborers;  (II)  Skilled  mechanics, 
(a)  directed,  (b)  self -directing;  (III)  Brain  workers,  (a)  clerks, 
sahsmen,  bookkeepers,  etc.,  (b)  bosses,  overseers,  superintendents, 


88 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


etc.  Among  these  those  most  likely  to  be  unemployed  in  large 
cities  are  1(a),  11(a),  and  III  (a).  Within  each  of  these  classes 
I  believe  there  is  a  large  degree  of  mobility  as  industry  is  now 
organized.  The  work  of  factory  operatives,  for  example,  is  similar 
for  workers  of  the  same  grade,  whether  the  product  be  bicycles  or 
sewing  machines,  carriages  or  automobiles,  boxes  or  baskets. 
Machine- tending  calls  for  about  the  same  qualities  whether  the 
articles  turned  out  are  of  wood  or  steel  or  whatever  the  ultimate 
form  that  is  to  be  given  to  them.  Between  these  different  groups 
of  employments,  however,  (e.  g.  I,  II,  and  III)  and  between  em- 
ployments of  different  grades  in  each  group  (e.  g.  1(a)  and  1(b) 
etc.)  there  is  relatively  little  mobility  partly  because  different 
capacities  are  called  for  and  different  training  but  also  because  the 
workers  accustomed,  for  example,  to  farm  labor  dislike  factory 
employments  and  vice  versa. 

An  Employment  Bureau  would  need  to  consider  these  distinc- 
tions in  order  to  succeed  in  its  task.  Concretely,  the  contemplated 
Bureau  would  find  in  the  smaller  cities  and  towns  of  the  country 
a  more  promising  field  for  the  unemployed  in  1(a)  in  New  York 
City  than  on  farms.  At  present  one  of  the  chief  reasons  New  York 
manufacturers  assign  for  locating  in  New  York  is  the  ample  and 
varied  labor  market  on  which  they  can  draw  at  will  there.  On 
the  other  hand,  I  am  assured  by  manufacturers  in  small  towns  in 
the  Middle  West  that  one  of  the  most  serious  problems  with  which 
they  contend  is  that  of  obtaining  as  they  require  them  competent 
workmen.  An  Employment  Bureau  that  would  enable  such  manu- 
facturers to  draw  their  hands  from  a  larger  area  would  confirm 
their  preference  for  their  present  locations  and  attract  other  manu- 
facturers away  from  cities  to  the  smaller  towns  and  villages.  And 
what  is  true  of  1(a)  is,  I  believe,  true  also  of  11(a)  and  III  (a). 

Without  enlarging  further  on  details  along  the  lines  of  your 
definite  questions,  I  am  glad  to  have  an  opportunity  to  record  it 
as  my  opinion  that  such  an  Employment  Bureau  as  you  describe 
could  render  an  important  service  towards  lessening  the  evils  of 


JAMES  B.  SEAGER 


89 


unemployment.  I  believe  there  is  a  large  amount  of  mal- adjust- 
ment both  locally  and  nationally  that  a  properly  equipped  and 
wisely  directed  Bureau  could  remedy.  I  am  even  more  certain 
that  such  a  Bureau  could  render  an  invaluable  service  by  determin- 
ing the  causes  of  unemployment  and  discovering  what  other  means 
are  needed  to  bring  about  a  less  wasteful  industrial  organization. 
Among  such  means,  I  have  no  doubt  that  more  adequate  provision 
for  trade  or  industrial  education  will  be  given  an  important  place, 
and  no  one  who  has  given  any  thought  to  the  problem  of  the  trade 
school  can  fail  to  recognize  its  dependence  for  its  efficiency  on  exact 
information  as  to  the  kinds  of  workers  called  for  in  each  community 
— the  kind  of  information  that  an  Employment  Bureau  alone  can 
supply. 

That  an  Employment  Bureau  like  that  proposed  would  have 
been  of  great  assistance  during  the  year  of  industrial  depression 
through  which  we  have  just  passed  is  so  obvious  that  I  will  not 
enlarge  on  the  point.  Even  now,  when  conditions  seem  to  be 
improving  almost  day  by  day,  such  a  Bureau  could,  I  feel  sure, 
render  great  service  in  facilitating  the  return  to  normal  conditions, 
if  it  were  only  in  existence. 

As  to  the  financial  side  of  the  undertaking  I  will  not  venture 
an  opinion  except  to  say  that  $100,000  seems  to  me,  if  anything, 
too  small  a  sum  to  enter  upon  a  task  that  is  as  gigantic  as  it  is 
socially  important. 

November  29,  1908. 


LETTER  FROM  MR.  JAMES  B.  SEAGER, 
General  Manager  of  the  Olds  Gas  Power  Company,  of 
Lansing,  Michigan.   Supplementing  the  Preceding 

Letter  from  Prof.  Henry  R.  Seager 
Your  letter  opens  a  very  interesting  subject  and  one  in  which 
we  are  keenly  concerned.    I  most  heartily  endorse  the  proposition, 


9o 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


and  believe  it  would  be  one  of  the  greatest  steps  in  the  right  direc- 
tion toward  really  benefiting  the  worker. 

The  difficulty  is  very  great  today  of  getting  connections  between 
work  and  the  man  who  is  out  of  a  job.  In  our  own  case,  when  we 
want  men,  we  are  compelled  to  send  personal  representatives  to  dif- 
ferent cities,  advertise  in  local  papers,  and  in  fact,  for  the  time  being, 
set  up  a  bureau  such  as  you  contemplate.  It  always  works,  i.  e.  in 
the  end  we  get  the  men.  Somewhere  in  this  broad  land  we  are 
always  able  to  find  men  out  of  work,  even  though  in  our  immediate 
vicinity  there  may  be  a  strong  demand  for  labor.  This  country  is  so 
big  and  wide  that  conditions  are  not  uniform  and,  as  stated,  when 
one  looks  far  enough,  there  is  always  a  locality  where  good  men 
cannot  find  work. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  also  that  the  really  best  men  seem  to  be  the 
most  helpless,  if  they  lose  a  job,  in  the  matter  of  getting  another 
one.  A  man  who  has  been  employed  for  years  and  never  had  to 
hunt  for  work,  seems  utterly  lost  as  to  how  to  go  about  it,  or  where 
to  look,  if  he  has  to  hunt  for  a  new  position. 

A  friend  of  mine  for  years  operated  an  employment  agency  in 
Chicago,  handling  only  engineering  talent,  viz.  he  specialized  on 
draughtsmen,  tracers,  superintendents  and  managers,  charging 
the  men  good  stiff  commissions  for  positions  secured,  and  the  records 
showed  that  he  placed  men  all  the  way  from  a  few  dollars  a  week 
to  positions  as  high  in  value  as  $10,000  per  annum,  and  his  frequent 
observation  to  me  was  that  he  knew  no  man  so  helpless  as  an  en- 
gineer out  of  a  job,  the  better  he  was  in  his  profession,  the  more 
helpless  he  was  in  hunting  for  a  new  position. 

Were  such  a  bureau  in  force  as  you  outline,  we  would  make 
use  of  it  at  certain  times  every  year.  We  have  been  so  hard  put  to 
it  that  we  have  sent  men  as  far  as  New  York  City  to  collect  me- 
chanics and  send  them  to  Lansing,  advancing  their  carfare  to 
secure  them. 

November  27,  1908. 


FREDERICK  L.  SMITH 


91 


LETTER  FROM  MR.  FREDERICK  L.  SMITH, 
Vice  President  and  General  Manager  of  the  Olds  Motor 
Works  of  Lansing,  Michigan,  Supplement- 
ing the  Preceding  Letter 
from  Prof.  Henry 
R.  Seager. 

Answering  your  questions  seriatim:* 

(1)  How  do  we  proceed  to  get  men  when  we  need  them? 

The  usual  process  is  from  our  application  files  which  are  kept 
in  the  paymaster's  office;  to  see  first  if  the  live  applications  will 
bring  forth  responses,  stating  the  qualifications  of  the  men  — and 
since  at  a  time  of  labor  famine,  so  to  speak,  these  applications  are 
valueless  because  the  men  are  all  employed,  we  then  use  the  offices 
of  some  employment  agency,  as,  for  instance,  the  one  in  Detroit 
which  was  established  by  the  Manufacturers'  Association  there  and 
from  which  fairly  good  results  are  had.  In  addition  to  this  we 
always  send  our  paymaster,  who  is  familiar  through  long  experience 
with  the  eccentricities  of  the  laboring  man  looking  for  a  job,  to  run 
an  advertisement  in  the  paper  first  in  the  large  cities — Detroit, 
Cleveland,  and  Buffalo, — and  select  such  applicants  as  come  there 
on  the  ground.  As  an  additional  move  still  when  these  methods 
do  not  produce  results,  we  send  to  the  small  towns, — Battle  Creek, 
Kalamazoo  and  Grand  Rapids,  for  example,  and  in  addition  to 
running  an  advertisement  in  these  papers,  make  it  a  personal  mat- 
ter to  ferret  out  good  men  who  have  employment  but  who  would 
be  willing  to  change  for  a  slight  additional  compensation.  The 
comment  on  the  latter  process,  or  indeed  on  the  whole  present 
process  now  of  securing  labor  in  time  of  a  rush  for  labor  during 
business  expansion,  or  for  highly  specialized  labor  which  is  always 
in  demand  apparently,  is  very  obvious.    The  function  of  a  "na- 

*  This  letter  is  addressed  to  Professor  Seager,  and  the  questions  are  not  ident- 
ical with  those  asked  in  the  general  letter  of  inquiry. 


Q2 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


tional"  employment  agency  absolutely  unbiased  and  absolutely 
commanding  the  confidence  of  the  working  man  himself  first  of  all, 
would  be  that  of  a  general  distributing  his  forces  over  the  field  of 
action  and  preventing  an  often  repeated  spectacle  of  a  temporary 
massing  of  the  laboring  army  where  there  is  only  a  field  for  the 
efforts  of  half  of  them,  entailing  an  unnecessary  expense  for  trans- 
portation, and  entailing  what  every  factory  manager  would  explain 
to  you  as  a  feeling  of  unrest  by  the  reason  of  unemployed  floating 
labor  in  the  small  towns,  which  has  not  always  a  beneficial  effect 
on  the  men  in  the  shop, — although  it  would  suggest  itself  immedi- 
ately to  you  that  the  presence  of  unemployed  labor  in  this  town, 
say,  would  not  be  apt  to  quiet  the  uneasy  feelings  of  men  in  the  shop 
who  might  be  fearful  of  losing  their  jobs. 

(2)  Would  we  " patronize"  a  well  managed  employment  bureau 
with  an  office,  for  example,  in  Detroit? 

We  most  certainly  should  not  only  patronize  but  co-operate 
with  such  an  office  to  the  full  extent  of  our  ability,  since  in  our  own 
case  no  matter  what  effort  we  make,  our  total  force  will  fluctuate 
from  five  or  even  four  hundred,  low  point,  up  to  a  thousand  or 
eleven  hundred  men.  It  is,  of  course,  unnecessary  to  suggest  to 
you  that  at  such  times  there  is  a  corresponding  increase  in  the  de- 
mand for  labor  in  this  town  as  well  as  in  other  centers  where  we  are 
having  material  manufactured  for  us,  and  since  in  many  cases  we 
create  a  labor  famine  against  ourselves,  it  would  be  a  very  great 
advantage  to  have  some  sort  of  a  clearing  house  to  whom  you  could 
send  in  your  data,  the  number  of  your  men,  your  prospects  for 
increasing  or  decreasing  weeks  or  months  ahead,  and  allow  such 
an  office  to  handle  the  entire  work  of  reporting  on  conditions,  the 
chief  requisite  of  such  a  bureau,  as  I  have  suggested  before,  being 
in  my  mind  its  absolute  impartiality.  The  moment  anything  else 
was  allowed  to  creep  in,  the  value  to  both  the  employer  and  the 
employee  would  be  less  than  nil. 

(3)  Shifting  of  men.  (a)  Speaking  from  the  standpoint  of 
this  business  only,  there  is  a  certain  amount  of  "  drifters,"  probably 


FREDERICK  L.  SMITH 


93 


twenty  or  even  twenty-five  per  cent,  who,  by  reason  of  being 
unattached,  "free  lances"  regarding  domestic  complications,  etc., 
like  to  change  not  only  from  the  small  towns  to  the  large  ones  but 
from  place  to  place  so  that  they  can  have  the  excitement  and 
novelty  of  the  change  itself,  also  get  the  experience  of  different 
factories,  different  makes  of  cars,  etc.  This  applies  naturally  to 
the  younger  employees,  but  it  is  noticeable  in  the  entire  automobile 
business  at  least.  A  visit  through  the  factories  will  also  show  an 
astonishing  percentage  of  young  men,  the  traditional  gray-haired 
mechanic  being  a  rarity.  At  a  rough  guess  I  should  say  that  in 
our  own  shop  the  average  age  would  be  this  side  of  twenty-seven 
years  of  age ;  I  have  noticed  the  same  thing  in  all  the  other  factories 
which  I  have  visited,  and  the  free  masonry  among  young  mechanics 
from  twenty  to  twenty-five  leads  them  to  recommend  to  each  other 
a  shift  to  localities  where  conditions  are  apt  to  chime  in  with  their 
inclinations.  Leaving  aside,  however,  this  floating  element,  it 
would  appear  to  me  that  my  own  experience,  dating  back  to  1899, 
would  lead  me  to  say  that  the  tendency  to  settle  down  and  stay 
with  a  good  solid  job  is  growing  constantly,  and  the  prejudice  even 
on  the  part  of  the  younger  workers  against  smaller  towns  and 
cheaper  living  is  also  passing  away. 

(b)  I  take  it  you  are  inquiring  as  to  "drifting"  from  one  class 
of  employment  to  another.  In  this  regard  I  should  say  that  in  all 
mechanical  lines  specializing  is  becoming  the  order  of  the  day 
to  such  a  marked  extent  that  a  change  of  the  class  of  employment 
is  rather  exceptional;  in  other  words,  from  the  machine  shop  point 
of  view,  the  lathe  hand,  planer  hand,  drill  press  man,  etc.,  pretty 
much  follow  the  same  tools  in  the  same  class  of  work  wherever 
they  go;  and  also  the  variation  between,  for  instance,  automobile 
work,  small  arms  works,  typewriter  and  cash  register  work,  is  not 
very  marked  to  the  eye,  and  yet  as  a  rule  the  operatives  coming 
from  factories  turning  out  these  various  lines  of  work,  seek  work 
of  the  same  kind  in  the  same  kind  of  factories  wherever  possible. 
The  class  of  work  done  by  the  two  factories  side  by  side  here,  one 


94 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


on  gas  engines  and  one  on  automobile  engines,  is  of  such  a  different 
nature  that  an  exchange  between  the  plants  is  rather  an  excep- 
tional thing,  and  I  should  answer  your  question  by  saying  that  as 
far  as  I  know  anything  of  the  general  trend  it  was  for  employees  to 
follow  the  lines  of  their  last  job. 

Covering  your  last  question  as  to  what  we  think  of  such  a 
scheme,  and  would  it  do  any  good:  I  can  give  you  a  shotgun 
answer  to  this  effect,  first :  it  most  certainly  would  work  provided 
the  proper  men  took  hold  of  it  and  it  was  in  the  first  place  carefully 
and  very  slowly  worked  out,  so  that  the  employer  on  the  one  hand 
would  understand  that  his  requests  in  time  of  urgent  need  would 
be  treated  on  a  parity  with  those  of  his  brother  employers;  that 
the  employee  on  his  side  would  understand  that  the  "National 
Employment  Agency"  on  the  start  would  not  undertake  to  give  an 
estimate  of  the  man's  value  or  an  analysis  of  the  claims  that  he 
made  in  his  application,  or  statements  that  he  made  as  to  his 
ability  to  prove  of  value.  In  other  words,  my  own  humble  opinion 
would  be  that  the  thing  would  fail  of  support  instantly  unless 
the  employee  knew  that  a  National  Bureau  in  handling  his  name 
at  all  would  simply  act  as  a  clearing  house  possibly  to  the  extent 
of  taking  his  last  references  and  getting  letters  from  the  employers 
as  to  his  ability,  etc.,  which  in  the  last  equation  his  new  employer 
would  ask  from  him  in  any  event. 

I  do  not  profess,  as  you  know,  to  any  expert  knowledge  on  the 
labor  question  per  se.  My  own  views  on  the  many  sided  topic  of 
capital  and  labor  I  observe  have  been  forestalled  by  a  few  eminent 
thinkers,  with  none  of  whom  I  agree  in  full,  and  a  disquisition  on 
this  subject  I  will  reserve  until  you  call  for  it,  which  is  tantamount 
to  saying  that  this  communication  will  be  probably  final  as  regards 
any  information  you  may  ask  from  this  source. 

Regarding,  however,  the  often  recurring  problem  of  the  sense- 
less concentration,  or  rather  the  non-distribution  of  labor,  I 
certainly  believe  that  a  National  Bureau  of  Employment,  with  the 
co-operation  of  the  employers  all  over  the  country,  would  be  the 


FREDERICK  L.  SMITH 


95 


biggest  "dividend  payer," — speaking  from  the  standpoint  of 
the  prosperity  of  the  country, — that  has  been  launched  for  some 
years  past.  From  your  own  knowledge  you  must  have  dozens 
of  instances  where  unemployed  labor  is  within  a  few  hundred 
miles  of  unemployed  capital  seeking  to  get  names  on  their  pay 
rolls  and  offering  solid  inducements  to  solid  men  who  are  in  ignor- 
ance of  the  fact.  Have  had  the  good  fortune  to  know  a  very  large 
number  of  our  own  men  personally,  and  in  going  through  the 
strike  in  1901  I  certainly  had  my  eyes  opened  as  to  the  astonishing 
mental  capacity  of  the  average  machinist  or  worker  in  a  trade 
like  ours;  and  at  the  same  time,  an  equally  astonishing  eye- 
opener  as  to  the  clumsiness  and  ineffectiveness  of  the  methods  of 
letting  the  fact  be  known  to  the  right  workers  that  work  was 
looking  for  them.  I  could  cite  you  hundreds  of  cases  and  could 
call  your  attention  also  to  the  fact  that  the  daily  paper  is  one  of 
the  most  fruitful  sources  for  the  distribution  of  misinformation 
as  to  where  labor  is  needed,  and  a  National  Employment  Bureau, 
without  much  additional  expense  or  red  tape,  could  have  a  publicity 
department  which  the  newspapers  would  be  very  glad  to  avail 
themselves  of,  so  that  real  news  items  would  be  edited  and  de- 
pendable instead  of  stating,  for  example,  that  all  the  steel  mills  in 
Pittsburgh  were  starting  up,  that  business  at  the  Packard  factory 
in  Detroit  and  the  Olds  Motor  Works  in  Lansing,  was  booming, 
more  men  being  taken  on,  etc., — these  items  having  appeared 
all  through  December  and  January  of  1907-8  and  being  read  by 
the  seeker  for  work,  who  in  numerous  cases  begged,  borrowed 
or  stole  money  enough  to  come  out  here,  only  to  find  scores  of  our 
own  men  laid  off  temporarily  and  having,  of  course,  first  call  on 
the  positions  as  they  were  thrown  open. 

You  will  observe  that  I  am  heartily  in  favor  of  such  a  scheme 
as  is  being  proposed,  and  I  presume  the  fact  that  it  appears  to  be 
taken  up  by  the  bankers,  gives  it  a  special  significance.  This 
country  is  in  need  of  class  harmony  and  a  most  intelligent  co- 
operation between  all  the  employing  class  and  the  people  that 


96  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

handle  the  money  on  the  one  hand,  since  it  must  some  time  dawn 
on  even  the  poor  slave  of  an  employer  driving  his  own  business 
at  top  notch,  that  at  some  period  or  other  the  prosperity  of  the 
whole  country  or  even  a  general  prosperity  is  apt  to  make  or  mar 
his  business. 

November  28,  1908. 


REPLY  FROM  MR.  SIDNEY  WEBB, 
of  London 

I 

Unemployment  in  large  cities  can  only  in  a  restricted  sense  be 
said  to  be  caused  to  any  great  extent  by  the  mere  failure  of  em- 
ployers to  find  workmen,  or  of  workmen  to  find  employers.  They 
do  find  each  other  now,  even  in  the  worst  of  times  though  only 
after  some  delay.  If  there  were  no  unemployment,  in  the  sense  of 
there  being  exactly  as  many  vacancies  as  there  were  men  to  fill 
them,  there  would  still  be  a  certain  proportion  of  time  lost  in  shift- 
ing situations.  This  even  if  no  more  than  one  day  in  each  case, 
would  appear  in  the  statistics  as  a  percentage  of  men  unemployed. 
Experience  of  the  best  organized  trades  in  England,  at  the  very 
busiest  of  times,  rather  points  to  the  fact  that  minimum  of  unem- 
ployment, if  it  can  be  so  called,  due  to  time  lost  in  shifting  from 
job  to  job,  and  analogous  causes,  may  amount  to  something  like 
1  per  cent  of  the  whole  of  the  working  class  population,  indicating 
an  average  loss,  from  this  cause  alone,  in  the  best  of  times,  of  3 
days  per  annum. 

At  the  present  time,  in  England,  the  chief  means  used  to  get 
situations,  and  to  fill  vacancies  are  the  following : 

(a)  Trade  Union  Organization. — This  applies  to  about  a 
million  of  the  best  organized  wage-earners,  mainly  skilled  artisans 
and  mechanics.    Each  trade  union  branch  in  these  trades  tries 


SIDNEY  WEBB 


97 


to  get  situations  for  its  unemployed  members.  Each  member  is 
bound  to  report  vacancies,  and  to  do  his  best  to  fill  them  from  his 
branch.  Sometimes  a  small  fee  by  the  union  is  paid  for  each 
situation  so  filled.  Among  trade  unions,  the  old-fashioned 
journeymen  Steam  Engine  Makers'  Association  (which  has  never 
joined  the  Amalgamated  Society  of  Engineers)  is  specially  distin- 
guished for  the  trouble  it  takes  to  get  its  members  into  jobs.  On 
the  other  hand,  at  least  half  the  trade  unions,  including  those  of 
the  unskilled  laborers,  and  the  less  well- organized  trades,  do  not 
and  cannot,  practically,  do  anything  in  this  direction. 

Foremen  frequently  use  the  trade  union,  when  they  retain  their 
membership,  as  an  agency  for  recruiting  their  staffs.  Employers 
themselves  do  so  less  frequently;  but  in  the  case  of  the  London 
Society  of  Compositors,  in  particular,  it  is  quite  usual  for  employers 
to  send  or  telephone  to  the  society's  offices  when  they  want  men. 
This  is  also  done  in  some  small  societies  of  skilled  trades. 

All  this  has  an  important  bearing  on  the  establishment  of  a 
Public  Labor  Exchange.  Alike  in  Germany  and  in  London  the 
trade  unions  were  at  first  opposed  to  such  an  institution.  Gradu- 
ally they  realized  that  it  need  not  be  inimical  to  their  interests, 
whilst,  if  they  stood  aloof,  it  might  be  used  against  them.  They 
have  accordingly  become  friendly,  on  receiving  some  share  in  the 
management.  This  is  indispensable  to  secure  their  support. 
In  London,  many  trade  union  branches  already  keep  their  "Vacant 
Books"  at  the  Labor  Exchange  offices,  and  have  thereby  become 
subsidiary  branches. 

(b)  Newspaper  Advertisements. — These,  whether  inserted 
by  employers  or  employed,  are  the  principal  means  of  getting  places 
as  clerks,  managers,  porters  and  all  sorts  of  nondescript  occupa- 
tions; together  with  some  trades.  Thus  there  are  always  adver- 
tisements of  compositors  wanted,  or  wanting  places.  There  is 
obvious  mal-adjustment  here,  as  there  will  be,  in  a  single  column, 
dozens  of  advertisements  of  places  vacant,  followed  by  dozens  of 
advertisements  by  persons  wanting  exactly  that  kind  of  places. 


98  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

(c)  "Calling  Round." — This  is  the  customary  method  of 
getting  work  in  the  building  trades  and,  in  fact,  among  wage- 
earners  generally  (especially  laborers).  Those  who  are  unem- 
ployed go  round  from  shop  to  shop,  or  from  job  to  job,  asking 
whether  any  " hands"  are  wanted.  The  employer,  or  his  foreman, 
is  apt  to  rely  on  this  happening.  He  waits  till  men  come  along, 
and  then  picks  out  such  as  please  his  fancy.  This  method  may 
take  the  form,  on  the  one  hand,  of  the  attendance  of  a  crowd  of 
men  at  the  dock  gates,  or  at  a  wharf,  or  at  any  large  engineering 
work,  from  among  whom  the  foreman  picks  as  many  as  are 
needed.  Or  on  the  other  hand,  especially  in  the  woman's  trades, 
the  employer  puts  up  a  notice  in  his  window  ("  Blouse  hands 
wanted")  which  always  brings  him  applicants  within  an  hour  or 
two. 

This  1  'calling  round"  expands  into  the  tramping  from  town  to 
town  of  unemployed  artisans,  which  was  the  first  form  of  out-of- 
work  benefit  of  the  trade  unions.  It  still  survives  among  the  brick- 
layers, compositors,  stonemasons  and  coopers.  The  man  draws 
sixpence  or  a  shilling  at  each  town  from  the  local  trade  union  secre- 
tary, but  may  not  draw  this  more  than  once  within  a  specified 
period.  He  must  therefore  tramp  from  town  to  town  until  he  finds 
a  vacancy.  This,  it  will  be  noted,  is  essentially  the  system  that 
breeds  the  Australian  "sundowner,"  and  the  American  "tramp." 

(d)  Registry  Offices. — Mention  should  be  made  of  the  pri- 
vate adventure  Registry  Offices  ("bureaux  de  placement"),  of 
which  there  are  in  London  about  five  or  six  hundred.  Under  a 
recent  act  they  are  all  obliged  to  register  themselves  under  the 
London  County  Council,  and  to  obey  its  regulations.  They  are 
used  almost  entirely  for  domestic  servants, — for  which  they  are 
practically  the  only  medium  of  engagement, — but  they  exist  also 
for  hotel  servants,  waiters,  etc.,  musicians  and  music  hall  artistes, 
and,  curiously  enough,  also  men  and  women  teachers  in  high  or 
secondary  schools,  or  private  families.  They  charge  a  fee  to 
employers,  and  usually  also  one  to  those  for  whom  they  get  engage- 


SIDNEY  WEBB 


99 


ments^  They  do  not  deal  much  with  workmen,  whether  skilled 
or  unskilled,  women  workers  or  clerks. 

In  spite  of  all  these  agencies  there  is,  in  England,  a  great  lack 
of  knowledge  among  workers,  of  opportunities  for  advancement, 
and  even  of  situations  vacant  in  their  own  occupations.  The 
persistence  of  the  aimless  and  vague  "calling  round"  system, 
expanded  into  the  tramping  from  town  to  town  of  the  bricklayers, 
compositors,  stonemasons,  coopers,  etc.,  shows  how  little  organiza- 
tion there  is.  Every  morning  tens  of  thousands  of  men  rise  up  not 
knowing  where  to  go  for  work.  They  drift  aimlessly  about,  and  a 
certain  proportion  of  them  eventually  run  up  against  jobs,  almost 
by  chance,  just  as  a  cloud  of  flies  in  the  sunshine  will  collide  with 
each  other  from  time  to  time.  (See  the  recent  life  of  W.  Crook, 
M.  P.,  "From  Workhouse  to  Westminster,"  by  George  Haw,  for 
instance  of  this  haphazard  hunt  for  work.)  There  is  a  considerable 
loss  of  time  between  job  and  job.  Employers  usually  say  they 
have  no  trouble  in  getting  all  the  help  they  want.  But  it  is  clear 
that  (a)  they  often  put  up  with  inferior  labor  rather  than  run  the 
risk  of  having  none,  (b)  that  they  let  slip  opportunities  of  pro- 
fitably using  labor,  particularly  in  agriculture,  because  they  can't 
get  just  what  labor  they  want,  at  the  moment  they  need  it,  and 
without  having  it  on  their  hands  after  the  emergency  has  passed. 
During  the  past  two  years  there  has  been  a  constant  demand  for 
labor  in  South  Wales,  at  a  time  when  nearly  every  English  town 
had  unemployed  laborers  on  its  hands. 

(e)  Labor  Exchange. — It  is  interesting  to  find  that  this  has 
existed  in  England  in  one  great  industry  for  nearly  half  a  century, 
and  that  resort  to  it  is  compulsory  on  both  employers  and  employed. 
By  the  Merchant  Shipping  Acts  it  is  obligatory  that  all  engage- 
ments of  seamen  and  other  workers  on  shipboard  should  be  signed 
before  a  government  officer,  the  intention  being  to  prevent  the 
abuses  of  "crimping."  There  are  no  "Mercantile  Marine 
Offices"  maintained  by  the  government  at  the  several  ports; 
each  with  waiting  room  for  the  sailors,  etc.,  and  messengers  to 


IOO  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

fetch  those  not  on  hand.  The  captain  desiring  a  crew  goes  and 
picks  out  the  men  he  wants,  and  then  signs  contracts  with  them 
before  the  superintendent.  Any  engagement  otherwise  than  before 
the  superintendent  is  a  penal  offence. 

In  London,  since  1905,  there  has  been  a  system  of  Labor 
Exchanges  run  by  the  Central  (Unemployed)  Body,  a  statutory 
municipal  authority,  drawing  its  funds  from  the  rates  (local  taxes). 
The  score  or  so  of  exchanges  of  this  body  now  fill  over  25,000 
situations  annually,  and  are  rapidly  increasing  in  popularity. 
It  may  be  expected  that  the  president  of  the  Board  of  Trade  (Mr. 
Winston  Churchill)  will  propose  to  Parliament  next  spring  the 
development  of  these  London  Exchanges  into  a  national  system 
covering  the  whole  country;  either  managed  by  municipalities 
under  central  control  and  with  a  government  grant;  or,  more 
probably,  as  municipal  areas  do  not  coincide  with  industrial 
areas,  and  would  not  be  very  sympathetic  with  each  other,  managed 
by  the  National  Government  (Board  of  Trade),  as  a  single  united 
system,  as  the  Mercantile  Marine  Offices  already  are. 

These  Labor  Exchanges  charge  absolutely  no  fee  to  employers 
or  employed.  The  Mercantile  Marine  Offices  used  to  charge  a 
shilling  to  the  employer  and  a  shilling  to  the  seaman  on  each  con- 
tract; but  this  was  abolished  in  1882  (probably  in  some  bargain 
with  the  shipping  interest).  Employers  get  their  labor  too  easily 
as  things  are  (in  the  various  ways  described  above)  to  make  them 
willing  to  pay  any  fee.  Moreover,  the  great  difficulty  (unless 
resort  is  made  compulsory)  is  to  induce  them  to  make  use  of  the 
Exchange.  Any  fee  would  be  a  hindrance.  A  system  of  labor 
exchanges  at  all  generally  used  would,  I  am  sure,  not  only  greatly 
increase  the  worker's  chances  of  improving  his  or  her  position, 
greatly  lessen  the  time  lost  between  job  and  job,  greatly  diminish 
the  wearing  anxiety  of  looking  for  work,  and  greatly  facilitate  the 
employer's  getting  all  the  labor  he  can  profitably  employ.  It 
would  not  only  increase  the  mobility  of  labor,  but  would  actually 
increase  the  aggregate  volume  of  demand,  to  the  extent  of^the 


SIDNEY  WEBB 


IOI 


opportunities  for  profitable  employment  that  the  employer  now 
lets  slip  because  he  can't  get  just  what  he  wants  when  he  wants  it. 

II 

The  experience  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  is  that,  whilst 
depression  of  trade  may  be  universal,  fluctuations  in  trade  are  very 
largely  local.  Even  within  the  same  trade,  there  is  usually  less 
surplus  of  labor  in  one  town  than  another.  This  has  been  con- 
spicuously true  of  boot  and  shoe  manufacturing  during  the  past 
few  years.  Whilst  Leicester  and  Ipswich  have  had  numerous 
workers  unemployed,  there  have  actually  been  unfilled  vacancies, 
in  particular  branches  of  the  trade,  in  Nottinghamshire  villages. 
The  causes  of  the  geographical  shifting  of  employment  are  various. 
For  instance,  the  whole  class  of  "navvies"  and  " ground  workers" 
go  from  one  engineering  work  to  another.  In  one  town  there  may 
be  large  water  works  to  be  built,  requiring  hundreds  of  men. 
These  have  to  be  drawn  from  other  places,  and  when  the  work  is 
completed,  they  depart  to  other  places.  At  Woolwich,  within 
the  last  two  years,  some  5,000  engineers  and  laborers  have  been 
discharged  from  the  government  arsenal.  These  have  had  to 
drift  away  to  other  towns,  where  many  of  them  have  found  employ- 
ment. Railway  and  steamship  depots  change  from  place  to  place, 
in  the  course  of  extensions  and  developments;  and  with  them 
thousands  of  workers  have  to  shift.  At  present  this  shifting  is 
left  to  anarchy,  and  the  result  is  chaos.  The  workers  drift  aim- 
lessly about  and,  after  more  or  less  delay,  and  more  or  less  indivi- 
dual suffering,  the  new  situations  are  filled,  when  they  might  have 
been  filled  much  more  expeditiously  and  with  much  less  suffering, 
by  means  of  a  national  organization  of  Labor  Exchanges. 

But  there  is  a  further  and  continuous  shifting  of  the  demand 
for  labor  from  place  to  place,  even  within  the  same  year.  Many 
industries,  especially  those  connected  with  agriculture,  have  a 
demand  for  ten  times  as  much  labor  at  one  season  as  at  another, 
for  harvesting,  etc.    There  are  industries,  such  as  gas  making, 


102  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

the  theatrical  profession,  the  Post  Office,  etc.,  which  employ 
many  more  workers  in  the  winter  than  in  the  summer.  Other 
industries,  such  as  building  and  house  decorating,  need  far  more 
labor  in  the  spring  and  summer  than  in  the  autumn  and  winter. 

Now,  in  the  absence  of  any  organized  arrangements  for  trans- 
ferring surplus  workers  from  one  industry  at  its  slack  season  to 
another  at  its  busy  season,  each  industry  tends  to  have  its  own 
set  of  workers,  who  are  sufficient  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  busy 
times,  and  who  remain  hanging  about  the  industry  in  its  slack 
season,  half  employed.  Thus  each  of  the  industries  that  fluctuate 
seasonally,  contributes  a  large  quota  of  workers  to  the  ranks  of  the 
unemployed,  at  the  season  when  year  after  year  the  industry  is  slack. 
This  seasonal  fluctuation  really  applies  to  practically  all  trades. 
Careful  investigation  has  shown  that  in  all  the  industries  having 
well  organized  trade  unions  having  out  of  work  benefit,  there  has 
been,  during  the  past  ten  years,  a  well  marked  systole  and  diastole 
according  to  the  seasons  of  the  year.  The  interesting  fact  has  come 
out  that,  among  these  two  or  three  dozen  industries  in  England 
and  Wales,  there  is  no  month  oj  the  year  in  which  one  or  other  of 
these  industries  is  not  at  its  slackest;  and  similarly  there  is  no 
month  of  the  year  in  which  one  or  other  of  these  industries  is  not  at 
its  busiest.  Although  precise  statistics  cannot  be  obtained,  there 
is  reason  to  believe  that  the  aggregate  volume  of  employment 
among  the  trades  taken  together  may  quite  possibly  be  fairly 
uniform  throughout  the  year.  Nevertheless,  there  are  in  any  month 
of  the  year  numerous  workers  out  of  employment,  from  one  of 
these  industries  or  another. 

But  the  most  important  utility  of  the  Labor  Exchange  has  still 
to  be  mentioned.  The  investigations  of  the  last  few  years  in  this 
country  have  proved  beyond  possibility  of  doubt  that  the  most 
serious  distress,  and  the  greatest  obstacle  to  the  success  of  relief 
works  or  any  other  form  of  provision  for  the  unemployed,  is  due 
not  to  unemployment  at  all — in  the  sense  of  the  loss  of  definite 
situations  of  assumed  permanency,  and  the  inability  to  regain 


SIDNEY  WEBB 


such — but  to  the  existence  of  a  vast  mass  of  "underemployed" 
labor.    In  London,  in  all  the  seaports,  and  in  all  the  large  towns, 
there  are  hundreds  of  thousands  of  workers  who  never  hold  definite 
situations,  or  even  work  for  as  much  as  a  week,  but  who  live  by  a 
succession  of  short  jobs,  each  for  a  few  hours  or  a  day  or  two, 
for  different  employers.    The  typical  case  is  that  of  the  dock  or 
wharf  laborer,  who  is  engaged  for  a  job  of  a  few  hours  only.  This 
would  present  no  great  difficulty  if,  like  the  bricklayer  and  the 
plumber,  the  dock  laborer  habitually  got  enough  work  in  the  week 
to  yield  him  complete  subsistence.    Unfortunately,  owing  to  com- 
plete lack  of  organization,  there  is  no  correspondence  between  the 
number  of  jobs  and  the  number  of  men  looking  to  them  for  a  living. 
Each  wharf  in  London,  and  each  dock  "  stand"  in  Liverpool, 
attracts  its  own  group  of  expectant  laborers  who  wait  there  for 
work,  and  who  are  very  reluctant  to  look  elsewhere  for  it,  lest  by 
their  temporary  absence  they  lose  their  chance  of  that  work. 
The  consequence  is  that  each  wharf  in  London  and  each  dock 
"stand"  in  Liverpool,  tends  to  attract  to  itself  enough  men  to 
satisfy  its  demand  on  its  busiest  day.    In  fact,  it  suits  the  employer 
to  have  such  a  number  of  men  in  waiting  at  his  gate.    Hence  there 
accumulates  at  each  wharf  what  may  be  called  a  "stagnant  pool" 
of  labor.    And  as  the  busiest  day  of  each  wharf  does  not  coincide 
with  the  busiest  day  of  other  wharves,  the  result  is,  experience 
shows,  that,  alike  in  Liverpool  and  in  London,  the  total  number 
of  laborers  looking  for  these  jobs  amounts  to  about  twice  the  num- 
ber that  are  ever  employed  on  the  busiest  day  for  the  port  as  a 
whole.    Thus,  the  whole  tend  to  live  a  half-employed  life,  strug- 
gling among  each  other  for  the  work,  living  partly  on  their  wives' 
earnings,  and  existing  always  at  a  miserably  low  level.  This 
class  of  casual  laborers  is  a  very  large  one  in  the  large  towns  of 
the  United  Kingdom;    and  presumably  the  same  class  exists 
in  New  York.    In  times  of  good  trade  they  get  three  or  four  days  a 
week;  in  times  of  bad  trade,  only  three  or  four  days  a  month. 
This  is  not  only  bad  in  itself,  but  it  stands  in  the  way  of  providing 


104  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

relief  works  for  other  workmen.  Whenever  employment  is  offered, 
even  at  four  shillings  a  day,  this  horde  of  casual  laborers  swarms 
in,  and  ruins  the  experiment. 

Now,  if  all  the  employers  sent  for  their  casual  laborers  to  a 
Labor  Exchange,  those  who  wanted  men  for  Monday,  and  those 
who  wanted  them  for  Tuesday,  and  so  on,  would  get  them  for  the 
days  that  they  want  them,  without  involving  the  existence  of  a 
large  army  of  half-employed  labor.  The  analogy  may  be  quoted 
of  trained  sick  nurses.  A  nurse  is  sent  for  by  a  household  when 
she  is  wanted,  exactly  for  the  period  that  she  is  wanted.  But 
by  suitable  arrangements,  the  nurses  go  from  case  to  case,  with 
little  interval,  instead  of  there  being  twice  as  many  nurses  as  there 
is  need  for. 

It  is  strongly  argued  that  the  very  greatest  of  all  single  reforms 
that  could  be  effected  in  London,  Liverpool,  Glasgow  and  other 
large  towns  would  be,  by  means  of  a  Labor  Exchange  generally 
resorted  to,  the  intermittent  jobs  by  which  so  large  a  proportion 
of  the  laboring  population  lives  could  be  "  dovetailed,"  so  as  to 
secure  practically  continuous  work  and  wages  for  such  men  as  are 
employed  at  all.  Largely  on  this  ground,  it  is  expected  that  a 
national  system  of  Labor  Exchanges  will  be  instituted  all  over  the 
kingdom  by  Mr.  Winston  Churchill,  the  president  of  the  Board  of 
Trade. 


REPLY  FROM  MR.  ADNA  F.  WEBER, 
Statistician  of  the  New  York  Public  Service  Commission 

(i)  As  to  local  mal-adjustment  of  demand  and  supply  in  the 
labor  market,  I  should  be  disposed  to  say  that  the  existing  agencies 
and  methods  do,  on  the  whole,  meet  the  requirements  of  the  situa- 
tion; that  is  to  say,  in  a  period  of  normal  activity  there  are  rela- 
tively few  workers  without  employment  at  a  time  when  employers 


ADNA  F.  WEBER 


are  seeking  help  of  the  same  grade  or  class.  There  is  much  room 
for  improvement  in  the  methods  of  the  private  employment  offices, 
which  may  be  obtained  through  more  careful  public  regulation 
and  possibly  through  the  example  of  a  well  endowed  Bureau;  but 
that  the  latter  could  find  local  situations  for  the  unemployed 
in  any  considerable  numbers  seems  to  me  doubtful.  Fees  should 
be  charged. 

(2)  As  to  mal-adjustment  between  communities,  this  seems 
to  me  of  importance  in  but  one  industry,  agriculture,  so  far  as  it  is 
carried  on  by  small  proprietors.  The  railroads  and  large  indus- 
trial corporations  find  no  difficulty  in  transferring  multitudes  of 
laborers  from  one  place  to  another  and  farmers  on  a  large  scale 
like  those  on  western  wheat  farms  can  obtain  harvesters  in  gangs. 
It  is  the  isolated,  individual  farmer  of  the  East  who  has  no  organiza- 
tion or  machinery  for  obtaining  labor,  and  his  difficulties  are  being 
met  by  the  creation  of  state  bureaus  of  (agricultural)  employment. 
In  any  case,  the  rule  generally  holds  today  that  labor  goes  where 
it  is  most  needed  and  wanted  as  expressed  in  high  wages  or  other 
advantages. 

(3)  With  reference  to  occupational  mobility  the  situation  is 
entirely  different.  While  the  geographical  inability  of  labor  in 
this  country  is  highly  developed — almost  too  much  so  for  the  inter- 
est of  good  citizenship — the  capacity  of  the  worker  to  take  up  a 
new  occupation  is  not  highly  enough  developed.  Broader  training 
in  needed;  but  a  high-class  Employment  Bureau  might  aid  to  a 
degree. 

The  Germans  have  perfected  an  excellent  system  of  employ- 
ment bureaus,  but  it  is  a  system  and  it  has  grown  out  of  German 
conditions.  In  this  country,  there  is  reason  to  look  to  private 
enterprise  rather  than  the  government  for  the  development  of  such 
a  system.  A  well-endowed  Bureau,  under  the  most  capable 
management,  ought  to  elevate  the  tone  of  the  business  and  possibly 
introduce  co-ordination  now  lacking.  How  successful  it  may  be, 
will,  I  think,  depend  entirely  on  the  manager. 


106  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

REPLY  FROM  MR.  ROBERT  A.  WOODS, 
Of  South  End  House,  Boston 

I  cannot  do  more  than  give  general  results  of  experience  in  reply 
to  your  question. 

1 .  I  have  known  of  many  instances  where  the  evidence  of  mal- 
adjustment in  the  matter  of  employment  was  convincing.  These 
have  occurred  rather  in  the  skilled  and  clerical  grades  so  far  as  the 
situation  in  the  city  itself  is  concerned.  There  cannot  be  any 
doubt  that  employers  and  workmen  both  lose  a  great  deal  of  time 
and  meet  with  much  demoralizing  embarrassment  in  this  matter, 
which  an  employment  bureau  could  remedy  if  it  went  at  its  work 
with  something  of  the  scope  and  detailed  accuracy  of  the  weather 
and  crop  reports.  In  my  opinion  such  a  bureau,  in  order  to  be  of 
the  greatest  public  use,  should  throw  its  emphasis  strongly  upon 
assisting  really  capable  men  to  get  their  appropriate  opportunities 
rather  than  upon  landing  the  incapable  in  a  job. 

2.  There  is  mal-adjustment  in  the  unskilled  grade  of  factory 
workers  as  between  the  cities  and  towns  of  Massachusetts.  I 
have  known  of  some  significant  instances  of  employers  from 
factories,  in  good  times,  trying  to  secure  unemployed  or  ill-paid 
people  in  Boston  and  with  indifferent  success.  In  bad  times  there 
are  always  working  people  who,  as  a  last  resort,  are  willing  to  go 
out  of  town.  Systematic  organization  might  bridge  this  some- 
what complicated  gap. 

3.  The  possibility  of  change  from  one  occupation  to  another 
seems  to  grow  less  and  less.  Such  change  nearly  always  means  a 
step  down,  except  where  there  is  less  demand  for  skill  but  more  for 
responsibility. 

This  whole  subject  has  been  pretty  carefully  studied  by  the 
Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Labor,  whose  employment  office  is 
beginning  to  afford  some  more  or  less  suggestive  statistics. 

November  28,  1908. 


JAMES  W.  VAN  CLEAVE 


I07 


LETTER  FROM  MR.  JAMES  W.  VAN  CLEAVE, 
Of  St.  Louis 

President  of  the  National  Association  of  Manufacturers 
Let  me  say  that  I  am  personally  very  much  in  favor  of  the 
establishment  of  free  employment  bureaus,  and  in  this  I  believe 
that  I  not  only  express  my  own  opinion  but  that  of  the  large 
majority  of  the  members  of  the  National  Association  of  Manu- 
facturers. Untold  harm  is  being  done  by  bogus  employment 
bureaus  that  oftentimes  fleece  the  poor  seeker  of  a  job  of  the  few 
pennies  he  has  left.  There  are,  of  course,  noble  exceptions  to  this 
rule,  but  it  is  a  fact  that  in  many  of  our  large  cities  unscrupulous 
owners  and  managers  of  employment  agencies  earn'  on  drinking 
places  in  the  same  locality,  and  the  amount  of  good  that  can  be 
carried  on  under  such  conditions  for  our  poor  and  needy  is  very 
questionable  to  say  the  least. 

It  is  a  fact  that  many  of  our  states,  recognizing  the  need  for 
free  employment  bureaus,  have  established  such  bureaus  in  the 
larger  cities;  however,  my  own  observation  impresses  me  with 
the  inefficiency  of  such  state  bureaus.  I  do  not  mean  to  throw 
the  slightest  reflections  upon  state  officials  in  charge  of  such 
institutions  as  to  honesty  and  integrity,  but  the  special  training 
required  for  this  sort  of  work  is  missing. 

Appreciating  the  need  for  free  employment  institutions,  some 
employers'  associations  and  citizens'  organizations  have  established 
such  bureaus  of  their  own.  The  Citizens'  Industrial  Association 
of  Saint  Louis  has  maintained  a  free  employment  bureau  for  a 
number  of  years.  No  charges  whatever  are  made  either  to  the 
employer  or  workers.  The  bureau  is  sustained  by  the  associa- 
tion's funds.  Our  bureau  is  in  charge  of  an  efficient  specialist, 
and  the  service  is  so  satisfactory  that  many  of  our  manufacturers 
refuse  to  employ  help  direct,  in  all  cases  sending  to  our  employ- 
ment bureau  for  help  wanted.    The  advantage  is  that  some  sort 


108  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

of  an  inquiry  has  been  made  by  our  bureau  into  the  records  of  all 
those  seeking  employment.    You  may  be  interested  in  the  system. 

Any  one  making  application  for  employment  is  sent  immediately 
to  a  man  desiring  help,  but  the  person  making  application  must 
state  where  he  has  been  working  for  the  last  year  or  two.  Letters 
of  inquiry  are  sent  to  former  employers,  but  this  does  not  prevent 
immediate  employment  of  the  applicant.  As  soon  as  replies  are 
received  they  are  forwarded  to  the  employer  in  addition  to  keeping 
a  record  of  them  at  the  employment  bureau.  As  our  working 
people  find  that  a  good  record  helps  them  in  securing  other  or 
better  places  they  become  stanch  friends  of  our  employment 
bureau,  and  little  by  little  we  expect  to  have  this  bureau  a  clearing 
house  for  labor,  much  as  our  regular  clearing  houses  are  for  the 
financial  institutions. 

While  at  the  present  time  there  are  at  least  two  or  three  dozen 
employment  bureaus  of  the  type  of  ours  in  various  cities  in  the 
United  States,  they  cover  but  a  very  small  proportion  of  what 
needs  to  be  done.  I  said  something  on  this  question  when  dis- 
cussing the  formation  of  the  National  Council  for  Industrial 
Defense,  a  year  or  so  ago,  in  the  pages  of  the  Engineering  Maga- 
zine of  July,  1907.    I  quote  from  this  article  the  following: 

As  shortages  and  surpluses  of  labor  may  exist  simultaneously  in  different  locali- 
ities,  we  will  create  labor  bureaus  in  all  the  country's  important  industrial  centers, 
and  through  them  the  council  can  operate  a  labor  clearing  house  by  which  all  such 
abnormalities  can  be  corrected  and  a  balance  established.  Through  these  labor 
bureaus  the  council  could  look  after  the  better  distribution  of  immigrants  in  the 
regions  in  which  the  chances  for  their  employment  are  greatest.  It  could  also, 
through  these  bureaus,  secure  picked  labor  in  Europe,  so  far  as  this  can  be  accom- 
plished under  the  immigration  regulations  and  restrictions  which  go  into  operation 
on  July  1,  1907,  and  direct  it  to  the  proper  localities. 

I  look  upon  the  establishment  of  free  employment  bureaus 
most  favorably,  first,  from  the  standpoint  of  a  man  and  a  Christian, 
and  secondly,  as  an  employer,  and  you  are  at  liberty  to  use  my 
letter  in  any  way  in  which  it  may  benefit  the  good  cause. 

December  21,  1908. 


APPENDIX  III 


Plan  for  the  Formation  of  an  Employment 
Bureau  whose  Object  shall  be  to  Find 
Employment  for  Men  Unfamiliar 
with  the  English  Language 

By  Cyrus  L.  Sulzberger 

In  charge  of  a  competent  superintendent,  there  should  be 
engaged  eight  employment  agents  as  follows:  one  each  for  men's 
and  boys'  clothing;  women's  and  children's  clothing;  furs,  caps 
and  leather  goods;  paper  boxes;  building  trades;  interior  wood 
workers;  metal  workers;  and  two  for  miscellaneous  trades. 

After  the  applicants  for  employment  are  classified  according 
to  their  trades,  it  will  be  the  duty  of  these  men  to  take  them  about 
to  the  various  possible  employers  and  find  positions  for  them. 
In  order  to  facilitate  this,  there  will  previously  have  been  a  letter 
addressed  to  a  large  number  of  the  chief  employers  of  labor  in 
New  York,  setting  forth  the  purposes  of  the  Bureau,  and  signed 
by  half  a  dozen  representative  men,  who  express  their  interest  in 
the  Bureau,  their  desire  for  its  success,  and  requesting  co-operation 
of  the  employers. 

The  employment  agent,  having  previously  delivered  this  letter 
and  through  it  secured  an  introduction  to  the  superintendent  of 
the  factory,  will  have  the  entree  of  those  places  willing  to  co- 
operate with  us,  and  if  opportunity  offers,  will  be  enabled  to  place 
the  men  in  his  charge. 

It  is  believed  that  each  employment  agent  will  have  daily 

109 


IIO  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

five  persons  to  dispose  of.  Should  the  number  prove  larger,  a 
larger  number  of  employment  agents  vail  be  required. 

The  plan  here  outlined  is  an  extension  and  elaboration  of  the 
methods  by  which  the  Industrial  Removal  Office  has  succeeded 
in  finding  employment  for  a  large  number  of  men  in  all  parts  of 
the  United  States.  It  has  never  been  tried  in  this  way  in  New 
York,  but  there  is  no  apparent  reason  why  it  should  not  work 
as  well  here,  if  intelligently  conducted,  as  it  has  elsewhere. 

The  estimated  expense  of  such  a  Bureau  is: 


Superintendent   $2,000 

8  employment  agents  at  $750  each   6,000 

Stenographer  and  a  boy   700 

Carfares   i>5oo 

Printing  and  stationer}'   500 


making  a  total  of  about  $11,000  per  year.  No  item  of  rent  is 
here  included,  for  the  reason  that  it  is  expected  that  the  necessary 
premises  will  be  secured  free  of  charge  at  the  Hebrew  Sheltering 
House. 

A  great  labor  exchange  which  contemplates  the  bringing 
together  with  greater  facility  of  laboring  men  and  employers  is 
as  purely  an  economic  instrument  as  improved  machinery  or 
methods  of  transportation.  It  facilitates  production  and  is 
quite  as  much  in  the  interest  of  the  employer  as  of  the  employed. 
To  bring  together  the  man  who  is  idle  for  lack  of  a  job  and  the 
machine  which  is  idle  for  lack  of  a  man,  is  to  perform  an  act  of 
distinct  economic  value  to  the  community,  serving  immediately 
both  the  man  and  the  owner  of  the  machine,  and  ultimately 
society  at  large,  by  reason  of  the  productivity  thus  brought  about. 

The  establishment,  however,  of  an  Employment  Bureau  for 
competent  workmen  who  are  laboring  under  a  handicap  by 
reason  of  unfamiliarity  with  the  language  of  the  country,  is  in 
point  of  economic  value  equal  to  a  general  employment  bureau, 
and  has  in  addition  a  distinct  philanthropic  worth.  Other  things 
being  equal,  it  is,  economically  speaking,  a  matter  of  indifference 


CYRUS  L.  SULZBERGER 


III 


whether  A  or  B  is  the  man  at  the  machine,  but  if  A  is  a  foreigner, 
and  by  reason  of  his  lack  of  English  is  unable  to  fend  for  himself 
in  procuring  the  job,  he  will,  in  the  event  of  his  failing  to  get  it, 
speedily  become  a  dependent,  whereas  B  being  a  native  and  free 
from  the  handicap  with  which  A  is  afflicted,  can  more  readily 
place  himself  in  some  other  position  and  maintain  his  independence. 

Employers  ordinarily  will  not  take  the  trouble  of  dealing  with 
men  to  whom  they  cannot  readily  give  orders,  and  it  is  therefore 
necessary  to  arouse  their  interest  in  that  class  of  workmen,  and 
experience  has  shown  that  such  interest  is  most  readily  aroused 
by  the  co-operation  of  representative  men  in  the  community 
influential  with  large  employers  of  labor. 

The  Industrial  Removal  Office  has  placed  over  twenty  thou- 
sand men  at  work  in  various  parts  of  the  United  States,  and  fully 
two-thirds  of  these  did  not  speak  English.  The  plan  which  has 
been  successful  in  this  large  number  of  cases  away  from  New 
York,  could  be  applied  here  somewhat  on  the  lines  laid  down  in 
the  above  statement,  and  if  it  were  deemed  advisable  to  put  it  in 
effect,  either  as  to  New  York  or  elsewhere,  it  could  very  well  be 
made  a  part  of  the  general  Employment  Bureau  or  labor  exchange 
which  is  contemplated. 


APPENDIX  IV 


Statements  in  Regard  to  Three  Free  Philan- 
thropic Bureaus  Conducted  in 
New  York  City 

REPORT  ON  THE  COOPER  UNION  LABOR  BUREAU 

Extract  from  the  Report  of  the  New  York  Association 
for  Improving  the  Condition  of  the  Poor,  Volume 
io, — 1899-1900, — Pages  81-82. 

The  committee  in  charge  of  the  Cooper  Union  Labor  Bureau, 
after  a  careful  review  of  the  work  of  the  Bureau  and  mature 
deliberation  as  to  the  advisability  of  continuing  it,  recommended 
to  the  board  of  managers  of  the  Association  for  Improving  the 
Condition  of  the  Poor  that  the  Bureau  be  discontinued  at  the  close 
of  the  fiscal  year,  September  30,  1899.  This  recommendation 
was  approved  by  the  board,  and  the  office  in  Cooper  Union  was 
closed  on  that  date.  Among  the  reasons  which  influenced  the 
committee  in  reaching  their  decision  were  these : 

1.  Improvement  of  business  conditions  in  the  city,  lessening 
the  number  of  the  unemployed.  While  there  are  still  many  men 
out  of  work,  the  number  is  much  smaller  than  when  this  work  was 
begun. 

2.  The  announcement  by  some  of  the  intelligence  offices  that 
employers  can  secure  help  from  them  without  charge. 

3.  Free  labor  advertisements  published  in  a  daily  paper  of 
large  circulation. 

4.  The  establishment  of  a  Free  Labor  Bureau  by  the  state; 


LEE  K.  FRANKEL 


also  by  other  philanthropic  agencies.  One  of  the  objects  which 
the  committee  has  had  in  view  from  the  first  has  been  the  fostering 
of  enterprises  that  could  take  up  the  work  and  carry  it  on  success- 
fully. 

5.  The  growing  belief  that  the  state  is  able  to  conduct  a  free 
employment  office  better  than  a  philanthropic  society  can,  because 
of  its  wider  sphere  of  influence,  its  ability  to  ascertain  the  needs 
of  different  sections  of  the  state,  and  also  its  power  to  secure 
legislation  tending  to  decrease  the  evils  of  the  average  intelligence 
office.  Important  steps  in  this  latter  direction  have  already  been 
taken,  much-needed  laws  having  been  secured  since  the  State 
Bureau  was  opened. 

6.  Lack  of  adequate  support  to  compete  with  agencies  which 
have  an  expensive  office  force,  employ  canvassers,  and  insert 
advertisements  calling  attention  to  their  work  and  their  available 
applicants.  The  committee  has  not  felt  that  it  had  a  right  to 
ask  for  large  sums  of  money  given  to  the  Association  primarily 
to  improve  the  condition  of  the  poor.  Students  of  the  labor 
problem  who  favor  a  Bureau  of  this  character  say  that  it  should 
cost  from  $20,000  to  $25,000  a  year  in  order  to  insure  its  success. 
The  total  expenses  of  our  Bureau  for  the  five  years  of  its  existence 
have  not  reached  even  the  smaller  sum  mentioned. 


FREE  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  CONDUCTED  BY  THE 
UNITED  HEBREW  CHARITIES  OF  THE  CITY 
OF  NEW  YORK 
Statement  by  Lee  K.  Frankel 

Immediately  after  the  organization  of  the  society  in  1875, 
the  board  of  directors  authorized  the  establishment  of  an  employ- 
ment bureau.  In  the  report  which  the  committee  on  employment 
made  in  1876,  there  appears  the  following:  "The  better  class  of 


114  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

mechanics  usually  avoid  applying  for  work  where  charity  is 
connected  with  it." 

In  1879,  the  committee  reported  that  "the  results  are  no  better 
than  last  year.  This  is  due  to  want  of  interest  by  the  public." 
The  committee  further  stated:  "Such  labor  as  is  offered  by  the 
Charities,  is  not  in  demand.  Good  mechanics  can  find  employment 
without  our  assistance." 

No  further  mention  is  made  of  an  employment  bureau  until 
the  1884  report,  in  which  it  is  stated  that  an  employment  bureau 
is  more  than  ever  needed.  The  previous  report  mentions  a 
conference  with  the  Charity  Organization  Society  at  which  the 
establishment  of  a  Central  Labor  Exchange  was  discussed,  the 
annual  cost  of  which  (estimated  at  $5,000)  was  to  be  raised 
with  the  aid  of  all  the  charitable  organizations  in  the  city. 

In  1885,  the  Employment  Bureau  was  reorganized,  and  imme- 
diately became  very  active.  In  the  following  fiscal  year  2,811 
positions  were  found,  representing  80  per  cent,  of  the  applications. 
As  the  work  of  the  Bureau  was  largely  among  immigrant  Jews, 
the  effort  was  made  to  send  as  many  as  possible  out  of  the  city, 
to  positions  which  had  been  secured  for  them.  The  need  and 
desirability  of  such  a  step  was  evidenced  after  1891,  when  the 
second  large  influx  of  Russian  immigration  began.  The  establish- 
ment of  the  Baron  de  Hirsch  Fund  at  that  time,  gave  the  employ- 
ment committee  the  means  to  materially  enlarge  its  "out  of  town" 
activities.  In  fact  two  departments  were  opened,  one  for  local 
positions,  and  the  other  for  positions  away  from  the  city. 

Between  the  years  1891  and  1903,  the  activities  of  the  Employ- 
ment Bureau  were  continued,  and,  while  large  numbers  of  positions 
were  found  for  the  applicants,  it  can  not  be  said  that,  at  any  time 
during  that  period,  was  the  work  considered  truly  satisfactory. 
For  this  reason,  re-arrangements  of  the  Bureau  were  effected 
from  time  to  time,  in  the  hope  of  improving  and  increasing  its 
efficiency.  The  same  difficulties  which  were  mentioned  in  the 
earliest  reports  of  the  Employment  Bureau  were  encountered  in 


LEE  K.  FRANKEL 


115 


the  subsequent  years.  The  competent,  skilled  mechanic  found 
it  possible,  when  work  was  obtainable,  to  secure  employment 
either  directly  or  through  the  medium  of  the  trades  union  to  which 
he  would  belong.  For  the  handicapped,  it  was  difficult  to  secure 
positions,  owing  to  the  unwillingness  of  the  average  employer  to 
engage  this  class  of  help. 

In  addition,  it  was  found  that  many  employers  refused  to 
accept  workmen  who  were  sent  to  them  by  charitable  institutions 
for  obvious  reasons.  The  claim  was  made  in  particular  that 
applicants  sent  by  the  United  Hebrew  Charities,  either  by  reason 
of  incompetence,  inability,  or  unwillingness,  did  not  retain  their 
positions  for  any  great  length  of  time,  and  gave  trouble  to  the 
employer. 

Since  the  organization  of  the  Industrial  Removal  Office  the 
work  which  formerly  fell  on  the  Employment  Bureau  of  the  United 
Hebrew  Charities  in  finding  positions  outside  of  the  city  of  New 
York,  was  no  longer  necessary. 

The  experience  of  all  these  years  of  the  Employment  Bureau 
is  summarized  in  the  report  which  the  committee  made  to  the 
board  of  directors,  under  date  of  December  9,  1903 : 

To  the  President  and  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  United  Hebrew  Charities: 

During  the  past  year,  the  reports  of  the  Employment  Bureau  did  not  show 
altogether  satisfactory  results.  The  committee  has  given  the  work  considerable 
observation  and  believes  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  obtain  satisfactory  results 
in  securing  positions  for  the  class  of  people  who  apply  to  us  for  the  following  reasons: 

1.  A  large  proportion  of  our  applicants  are  men  who  have  never  learned  a 
trade  and  are  thoroughly  incompetent.  They  are  willing  to  work,  but  lack  ability. 
It  is  only  during  unusually  prosperous  times,  when  there  is  a  great  demand  for 
help,  that  it  is  possible  to  place  such  men. 

2.  We  have  a  class  of  applicants  who  are  incapacitated,  either  by  sickness  or 
age.  No  explanation  is  necessary  in  order  to  understand  why  it  is  extremely  diffi- 
cult to  obtain  positions  for  these  men. 

3.  We  have  another  class  to  deal  with  who  have  their  own  ideas  as  to  the 
value  of  their  services,  and  when  offered  a  position  at  a  lower  figure  than  their  own 
estimate  of  value,  absolutely  refuse  to  consider  it. 

4.  We  have  a  number  of  applicants  who  come  to  us  only  because  we  are  a 
free  Employment  Bureau,  and  they  feel  that  they  may  obtain  positions  through  our 


Il6  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

agency  without  any  effort  or  expense  to  themselves,  although  able-bodied  and  not 
subjects  for  charity. 

5.  Another  class  take  positions  which  are  offered  to  them,  hold  them  for  a  day 
or  two,  and  then  suddenly  fail  to  appear,  leaving  with  their  employers  a  poor  opinion 
of  the  Employment  Bureau  of  the  United  Hebrew  Charities. 

6.  The  employers  of  labor  throughout  the  city  appear  to  have  a  strong  preju- 
dice against  engaging  men  who  are  recommended  by  a  charitable  organization,  one 
of  their  reasons  being  that  sentiment  enters  into  the  question,  and  they  feel  that 
they  cannot  deal  with  subjects  of  charity  in  the  independent  manner  in  which  they 
treat  with  other  employees.  A  second  reason  being  that  they  usually  require  men 
who  are  able-bodied  and  competent,  and  such  men  should  not  find  it  necessary  to 
apply  through  our  Bureau. 

It  has  for  some  time  been  an  open  question  in  the  minds  of  the  committee 
whether  the  United  Hebrew  Charities  should  have  a  Free  Employment  Bureau  as  a 
branch  of  its  work.  A  Free  Employment  Bureau,  as  we  understand  the  term,  is 
one  that  is  open  to  the  public,  without  expense  to  the  applicant  or  employer.  Why 
should  an  institution  whose  funds  are  donated  by  the  public  for  charitable  work 
only  support  a  Free  Employment  Bureau  which  assists  men  who  are  not  proper 
subjects  of  charity  ?  We  believe  that  our  Employment  Bureau,  despite  the  fact 
that  great  efforts  have  been  made  to  obtain  good  results,  has  injured  rather  than 
helped  the  reputation  of  our  society.  It  is  our  opinion  that  the  United  Hebrew 
Charities  is  slowly  but  surely  drifting  in  the  direction  of  doing  executive  work  only, 
instead  of  carrying  on  the  various  branches  of  work  under  its  own  personal  super- 
vision, and  with  that  idea  in  mind  we  now  make  what  we  consider  a  conservative 
suggestion  for  the  consideration  of  the  board. 

We  believe  that  obtaining  employment  for  other  than  relief  applicants  is  not 
within  the  sphere  of  our  society's  work,  and  we  therefore  recommend: 

That  as  soon  as  arrangements  can  be  made  with  another  institution,  our  Em- 
ployment Bureau  be  discontinued  as  a  Free  Employment  Agency,  and  that  instead, 
our  organization  should  make  efforts  to  secure  employment  for  relief  applicants  only. 

By  so  doing,  the  expense  of  the  department  will  probably  be  decreased  fifty 
per  cent,  and  the  relief  cases  will  receive  far  better  attention  than  is  now  possible. 

Application  to  an  institution  of  charity  brings  with  it  a  loss  of  dignity  and  self- 
respect  to  the  applicant.  This  would  be  obviated  by  having  all  but  relief  cases 
taken  in  charge  by  an  organization  such  as  the  Young  Men's  Hebrew  Association  or 
the  Educational  Alliance. 

Respectfully  submitted, 

The  Employment  Committee. 

December  9,  1903. 

Acting  upon  the  recommendation  of  the  committee,  the  board 
of  trustees  of  the  United  Hebrew  Charities  discontinued  the 
Employment  Bureau,  and  turned  it  over  to  the  Independent  Order 


THOMAS  M.  MULRY 


II7 


of  B'nai  Brith,  at  the  same  time  subsidizing  the  last-named  society, 
so  that  it  would  be  possible  for  it  to  carry  on  the  Bureau.  Even- 
tually the  United  Hebrew  Charities  discontinued  the  subsidy,  and, 
as  the  Independent  Order  of  B'nai  Brith  was  unable  to  raise  the 
necessary  funds  to  keep  the  Bureau  open,  it  was  found  necessary 
to  close  it. 

I  may  say,  in  passing,  that,  since  the  discontinuance  of  the 
Employment  Bureau,  the  United  Hebrew  Charities  has  had  the 
services  of  an  employment  agent,  to  secure  work  for  the  relief 
cases  which  come  to  its  notice,  particularly  for  men  and  women 
who  are  partially  incapacitated,  in  other  words,  the  so-called 
handicapped  class.  The  work  of  this  agent  has  been  quite  success- 
ful. In  my  judgment,  the  committee  on  employment  pursued  a 
wise  course  in  recommending  the  severance  of  the  Employment 
Bureau  from  the  United  Hebrew  Charities. 

It  should  always  be  the  purpose  of  such  a  society  to  endeavor 
to  secure  work  for  those  who  are  directly  under  its  charge.  The 
general  proposition  of  finding  work  for  all  the  unemployed  hardly 
comes  within  the  province  of  a  charitable  institution. 

New  York,  December  5,  1908. 


FREE  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  CONDUCTED  IN  NEW- 
YORK  CITY  BY  THE  SOCIETY  OF  ST. 
VINCENT  DE  PAUL 
Statement  By  Thomas  M.  Mulry 

The  censensus  of  opinion  amongst  those  interested  in  this 
subject,  bears  out  my  own  impression  that  it  is  a  most  difficult 
matter  to  operate  successfully  a  free  employment  bureau.  Our 
experience  was  by  no  means  encouraging,  as  we  found  that  the 
majority  of  the  applicants  were  superannuated  or  unfit  to  fill  the 
various  positions  which  we  endeavored  to  obtain  for  them.  Em- 


Il8  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

ployment  was  secured  for  a  number  of  boys  and  girls  who  had  just 
finished  school,  but  undoubtedly  they  could  have  been  placed 
without  the  assistance  of  an  agency,  as  there  is  always  a  good 
demand  for  them. 

In  many  instances  we  found  that  the  employers  who  sought 
help  through  the  medium  of  our  Bureau  expected  to  obtain  men 
at  a  lower  rate  of  wages  than  was  prevalent  at  the  time.  Our 
Employment  Bureau  was,  of  course,  principally  to  obtain  work 
for  the  poor  families  which  came  under  the  care  of  the  conferences. 
Frequently,  when  we  had  good  positions  on  our  list,  we  were 
obliged  to  have  recourse  to  other  organizations,  as  it  was  only 
occasionally  that  the  applicants  were  qualified  for  these  positions. 

In  such  work  as  watchman  the  various  firms,  as  a  rule,  had 
some  pensioners  who  had  grown  old  in  the  service,  to  fill  the 
vacancy.  In  the  different  branches  of  the  public  service,  such 
positions  as  laborer,  foreman,  etc.,  would  generally  be  under 
the  control  of  the  political  situation,  for,  despite  the  fact  that  there 
was  always  a  large  number  of  applicants  who  were  physically  and 
mentally  capable  of  filling  these  places,  it  was  very  seldom  that 
such  vacancies  came  to  our  notice,  simply  because  it  required 
political  influence  to  obtain  these  places. 

To  my  mind,  it  will  be  very  difficult  to  successfully  operate  an 
Employment  Bureau  'on  a  philanthropic  basis.  In  prosperous 
times  there  is  no  difficulty  for  a  capable  person  to  obtain  employ- 
ment and  in  times  of  business  depression  it  is,  as  you  know,  a 
very  difficult  task  for  anyone  to  secure  a  position.  But  at  all 
times,  the  class  of  applicants  which  comes  under  the  notice  of  a 
charitable  society  is  generally  composed  of  those  who  have  out- 
lived their  usefulness  and  whose  poor  health  or  incapacity  make 
it  almost  impossible  for  them  to  qualify  for  any  position.  They 
will  always  be  in  the  category  of  " cheap  labor"  because  it  is 
necessary  to  hold  out  some  inducement  in  order  to  obtain  positions 
for  them. 

New  York,  December  8,  1908. 


APPENDIX  V 


Experiences  of  Mr.  Benjamin  C.  Marsh  in 
Trying  to  Secure  Work  in  New  York 
City,  on  December  17  and  18,  1908 


On  Wednesday  night,  December  16,  I  went,  at  about  half  past 
twelve,  to  one  of  the  cheap  saloons  on  lower  Chatham  Street  and 
talked  with  several  men  who  were  drinking  there  about  oppor- 
tunities to  secure  work.  Three  of  them  stated  that  they  had  been 
out  of  a  job  for  several  weeks,  but  one  urged  me  to  make  applica- 
tion to  the  foreman  of  the  gang  laying  tracks  on  the  railway  directly 
in  front  of  the  saloon. 

At  one  o'clock  I  went  to  the  bread  line  of  the  Bowery  Mission, 
37  Bowery,  on  the  East  Side,  and  found  a  place  in  the  line  on 
Bayard  Street  half  way  east  on  the  block  from  the  Bowery.  The 
man  ahead  of  me  claimed  that  he  was  a  broom  maker  and  had 
never  been  out  of  employment  before,  but  he  had  been  ill  and, 
although  he  had  been  to  every  broom- shop  in  New  York  City, 
he  was  unable  to  secure  any  employment.  He  cursed  the  men 
in  the  line  some  of  whom  he  said  had  money  saved  up,  several 
having  $10  at  least  in  pocket  while  they  still  sponged  bread  and 
coffee.  Men  who  had  been  through  the  mission  and  secured  their 
roll  and  coffee  kept  constantly  coming  back  and  lengthening  the 
line. 

It  took  about  20  minutes  to  get  to  the  door  where  we  were  let  in 
with  another  line  forming  in  the  Bowery  north  of  the  mission. 
When  we  got  to  the  main  floor  there  were  500  or  600  men  drinking 
coffee,  or  hanging  around  until  they  were  turned  out.    Most  of 

119 


120  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

them  had  left  by  a  little  before  two.  Several  of  them  told  me  that 
they  were  iron- workers,  carpenters,  moulders,  or  had  other  trades, 
but  had  not  been  able  to  secure  any  work  for  a  number  of  days. 
I  followed  them  on  the  street  until  past  three  o'clock.  Some  of 
them  curled  up  in  halls,  others  went  into  the  rear  halls  of  several 
saloons  which  were  open  all  night,  where  they  could  get  in  and 
stay  for  a  five-cent  drink.  I  found  no  difficulty  in  getting  into 
several  of  these  saloons.  In  one  of  them  on  the  Bowery  a  schooner 
containing  a  pint  and  a  half  of  beer  is  sold  for  a  nickel.  Several 
of  the  lodging  houses  were  marked  "Full,"  and  Mills  Hotels 
Numbers  i  and  2  were  both  full  between  3  and  3.30  A.  M.,  but  I 
was  referred  to  Mills  Hotel  Number  3,  where  I  secured  a  room. 
Two  or  three  of  the  men  with  whom  I  was  talking  said  that  they 
would  be  willing  to  go  to  the  country  if  they  could  get  a  job  where 
they  would  be  sure  of  staying,  and  that  they  had  applied  to  the 
Bureau  of  Information  of  the  Immigration  Service,  but  they  could 
not  be  sent  out  into  the  country  because  they  had  no  money  to 
pay  their  fare. 

The  first  thing  Thursday  morning,  a  little  after  nine,  I  went  to 
R.  H.  Macy  and  Company's  with  a  comrade  I  had  picked  up  on 
the  street,  trying  to  secure  a  job  as  porter.  The  man  had  suggested 
that  there  was  work  in  the  department  stores,  but  claimed  that  he 
had  tried  several  of  them  for  a  number  of  days  without  any  luck. 
He  had  been  out  of  work  for  several  weeks,  for  the  first  time,  he 
claimed,  although  he  was  a  painter  by  trade. 

On  Twenty-sixth  Street,  I  asked  a  policeman  where  work  could 
be  secured  and  he  held  up  his  hands  in  horror,  saying  that  if  he 
knew  where  there  was  any  work  in  town  everybody  would  be  after 
him.  However,  he  suggested  that  I  go  to  the  manager  of  Madison 
Square  Garden  for  employment,  but  I  found  that  I  was  unable  to 
secure  any  work  there ;  the  manager  said  that  I  might  come  around 
again  about  the  middle  of  next  month  when  there  would  be  another 
show  coming  on. 


BENJAMIN  C.  MARSH 


121 


In  response  to  the  following  notice  in  the  "Want"  columns  of 
the  World,  I  went  to  William  H.  Reynold's: 

SALESMAN  wanted;  five  first  class  salesmen  of  ability  and  tact; 
no  canvassing,  but  hard  workers  wishing  to  make  considerable 
money.    Bennett,  o  East  26th  Street,  Room  226. 

I  was  asked  to  canvass  for  lots  belonging  to  the  company  in 
East  New  York.  I  was  to  have  7  per  cent,  commission  on  the 
value  of  any  lots  that  were  sold.  The  prices  are  from  $300  to  $1400. 
I  promised  to  come  back  a  day  or  so  later  if  I  wanted  the  job. 

From  there  I  went  to  the  Bureau  of  Labor  in  the  State  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  and  found  the  room  full  of  men,  but  the  clerk 
in  the  office  refused  to  give  any  information  or  to  take  my  applica- 
tion and  told  me  to  come  back  again  the  next  morning.  At  the 
Information  Bureau  of  the  Immigration  Department  I  found  a 
crowd  of  men,  Italians,  Poles  and  some  Germans,  and  the  man  at 
the  outer  counter  stated  that  he  had  very  little  opportunity  to  get 
men  out  unless  they  could  pay  their  fare,  as  the  farmers  were  not 
advancing  money.  He  said  that  men  didn't  like  to  work  on  the 
farm  because  the  hours  were  so  long  and  they  were  apt  to  get  out 
of  a  job.  He  instanced  cases  of  people  who  had  been  in  to  get  men 
and  they  kept  them  for  only  a  week  or  ten  days  and  then  turned 
them  off  as  unsatisfactory,  paying  them  only  a  small  part  of  their 
wages.  He  admitted  that  they  had  received  one  application  from 
a  farmer  for  a  man  to  work  from  2.30  in  the  morning  until  5  at 
night,  and  he  didn't  blame  the  men  for  not  wanting  to  take  such 
jobs.  A  man  of  40  odd  years,  apparently  a  German,  said  that  he 
had  been  on  a  farm  where  he  had  to  work  from  5  in  the  morning 
until  10  at  night  and  had  been  getting  only  small  wages,  so  that  he 
would  not  think  of  such  a  job  again  for  a  minute.  The  attendant 
said  that  he  had  a  job  in  Illinois  but  that  the  fare  out  there  would 
be  about  $20,  although  possibly  half-fare  could  be  secured.  They 
would  pay  $18  or  $20  a  month  with  board  and  washing,  but  it  is 
the  dullest  time  in  the  year. 

A  second  visit  to  the  Information  Bureau  of  the  Immigration 


122  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

Service  was  equally  unsuccessful,  although  Mr.  Green,  the  man- 
ager, informed  me  that  they  had  plenty  of  work  for  men  in  a  saw- 
mill in  Alabama  at  wages  from  $1.25  to  $1.50  a  day.  Board, 
lodging  and  washing  are  about  $15  a  month,  so  that  one  could 
clear  quite  a  fair  amount.  He  suggested  my  going  to  the  Joint 
Application  Bureau,  to  give  a  reference  or  two  and  see  if  they 
would  not  advance  me  the  reduced  rates  which  would  amount  to 
about  $9,  but  I  told  him  that  I  was  not  able  to  raise  this  amount. 
When  I  was  coming  out  of  the  office  I  was  called  back  to  meet  a 
Pole  who  wanted  a  boy  to  work  on  his  farm  to  "  break  in."  I 
asked  him  how  much  he  wanted  to  pay  and  volunteered  to  work 
quite  cheaply,  but  he  said  the  money  was  no  special  object  to  him. 
Several  of  the  men  in  the  office  came  up  during  my  conversation 
with  Mr.  Green  and  were  evidently  anxious  to  get  hold  of  any  job 
that  was  considered  for  me. 

A  second  visit  to  the  Bureau  of  Labor  in  the  State  Department 
of  Agriculture,  a  little  before  noon,  was  almost  as  discouraging. 
The  clerk  told  me  there  was  no  use  in  my  trying  to  get  work  and 
they  wouldn't  take  applications  from  any  except  married  men. 
I  asked  whether  paying  $1  would  help  me  in  getting  a  job,  but  he 
informed  me  with  some  disgust  that  this  was  a  state  enterprise  and 
thai  they  couldn't  take  any  money  from  an  outsider. 

The  Dunham  Cocoa  Manufacuring  Company  claimed  that 
they  were  working  on  half  time.  The  Thatcher  Company  were 
planning  to  lay  off  their  men  from  their  iron  works.  The  Berlin 
Analine  Works  had  no  jobs  available.  The  A.  S.  Howard  Polish- 
ing Company  said  that  they  had  to  struggle  to  keep  the  men  busy 
who  were  working  for  them  and  that  there  was  no  chance  to  get  in. 

Three  Employment  Agencies  along  Greenwich  Street  all 
claimed  that  it  was  impossible  to  get  any  work  at  present.  The 
Magyar  Agency,  at  53  Greenwich  Street,  claimed  that  they  had 
employment  for  25  laborers  at  $1.40  a  day,  transportation  paid, 
but  upon  being  questioned  admitted  that  the  work  was  all  gone  and 
they  simply  kept  up  the  sign. 


BENJAMIN  C.  MARSH 


I23 


The  Dilk  Draying  Company  said  that  they  couldn't  get  any 
work  themselves.  McRoberts  and  Company,  contractors  and 
stevedores,  42  Whitehall  Street,  were  unable  to  give  any  jobs. 
Charles  L.  Hearst  and  Company,  grocers  specialties,  at  16  Pearl 
Street,  had  been  laying  off  men,  since  it  was  very  dull.  L.  Schnell- 
feld's  Employment  Agency,  at  6  Greenwich  Street,  claimed  that 
they  had  work  for  everybody,  Germans  and  all,  but  admitted  that 
they  had  not  given  out  any  jobs  for  several  days. 

The  Delaware,  Lackawanna  and  Western  and  several  other 
railroads  on  the  North  River  piers,  said  that  they  had  no  employ- 
ment, but  might  possibly  be  putting  some  men  on  about  Monday 
or  the  first  of  the  year.  The  Adams  Express  Company  had  no 
opening  but  advised  me  to  come  back  again.  Wells,  Fargo  and 
Company  asked  me  to  bring  back  two  or  three  references  and  said 
they  would  probably  put  me  to  work  within  a  week  or  so. 

The  employment  office  of  J.  Block,  135  Liberty  Street,  also 
had  not  sent  out  any  man  for  a  long  time.  The  Laurenton  Land 
Company  had  advertised,  but  their  jobs  were  evidently  the  same 
as  W.  H.  Reynolds,  selling  real  estate. 

The  Moore  Soap  Company,  288  Greenwich  Street,  offered  me 
a  job  selling  soap,  a  $1.25  outfit  containing  seven  cakes,  for  75 
cents.  The  agent  was  to  get  half  of  this  and  they  would  let  him 
start  with  a  very  small  stock.  In  addition  the  proprietor  suggested 
that  he  could  put  me  on  a  wagon  in  a  city  in  another  state,  probably 
in  Hartford,  Conn.,  to  earn  $2.50  a  day. 

Thomas  Harper  and  Sons,  brass  manufacturers,  on  the  corner 
of  Lafayette  and  Howard  Streets,  were  laying  off  men  and  didn't 
expect  work  to  pick  up  for  some  time.  The  American  Brass  and 
Copper  Company,  on  the  opposite  corner,  could  do  nothing  for  me, 
although  I  claimed  to  be  an  experienced  brass  maker,  as  they 
expected  to  lay  off  help  within  a  short  time.  J.  Gelb  and  Company, 
machinery,  5  Howard  Street,  claim  that  they  haven't  work  enough 
to  justify  them  in  keeping  the  shop  open. 

The  Schaefer  Brewing  Company,  Fifty-first  Street  and  Park 


124  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

Avenue,  claimed  that  they  were  shutting  down  one  day  a  week  in 
the  bottling  works  and  that  some  of  the  men  were  to  be  laid  off  in 
the  brewery  so  that  any  task  was  hopeless  there.  They  thought 
that  most  of  the  other  breweries  were  in  about  the  same  condition. 

R.  Wolf,  leather  goods  manufacturer,  on  the  eleventh  floor  of 
the  block  bounded  by  Crosby,  Prince,  East  Houston  Streets  and 
Broadway,  were  closing  down  to  take  stock  until  after  the  holidays, 
and  doubted  whether  they  would  take  back  more  than  a  small 
portion  of  their  workers  even  when  they  opened  again.  Rosen- 
thal's, eighth  floor,  manufacturers  of  men's  and  women's  clothing, 
was  visited,  and  the  manager  pointed  to  several  men  who  were 
sitting  around  and  said  they  were  paying  these  fellows  for  sitting 
around  and  being  idle  and  that  they  didn't  intend  to  pay  anyone 
else  for  doing  that.  There  wouldn't  be  any  more  work  for  a  good 
while. 

In  response  to  an  advertisement  for  motormen  and  conductors 
I  visited  the  Metropolitan  Street  Railway  Company  and  was  given 
an  application  in  which  I  acknowledged  the  right  of  the  company's 
officers  to  terminate  my  employment  at  any  time  without  notice 
and  also  agreed  that  my  wages  should  cease  at  the  time  of  such 
discharge.  I  talked  with  several  of  the  men  looking  for  jobs  and 
they  said  the  chances  were  not  good,  and  that  a  great  many  appli- 
cations were  made  but  that  they  didn't  get  the  jobs.  Here  also 
references  from  the  last  places  of  employment  were  required.  I 
did  not  hand  in  the  application  although  the  man  in  charge  said 
there  would  be  a  chance  of  my  getting  work  as  they  were  taking  on 
men  occasionally.  An  application  at  the  repair  shop  of  the  com- 
pany on  Fiftieth  Street  was  equally  futile,  although  I  begged  the 
man  to  give  me  a  chance  for  a  few  days.  A  second  visit  on  the  day 
following  to  the  maintenance  and  construction  departments  of  this 
same  company  had  the  same  result  and  I  was  told  that  they  would 
not  be  taking  on  any  men  for  some  time  and  they  might  be  obliged 
to  lay  a  few  off  before  long. 

The  New  Idea  Arc  Light  Company,  138  Leonard  Street, 


BENJAMIN  C.  MARSH 


wanted  me  to  go  out  selling  arc  lights  on  a  unique  basis,  holding  me 
responsible  for  the  payment  under  rather  strict  conditions. 

The  Enterprise  Coffee  Company,  116  Wall  Street,  wanted 
canvassers  and  would  furnish  coffee  at  from  14  to  17  cents  a  pound, 
which  could  sell  for  from  20  to  35  cents,  and  tea  which  they  would 
sell  to  me  for  20  to  25  cents  to  be  resold  for  from  30  to  60  cents. 
They  would  give  a  small  sample  package  for  five  or  ten  cents,  but 
they  thought  it  was  necessary  to  do  this. 

The  Coston  Signal  Company,  Moore  Street,  could  not  give 
any  promise  of  employment,  but  remarked  that  work  was  very  dull. 

Brady  and  Gioe,  general  stevedores  and  contractors,  11  Moore 
Street,  said  there  was  nothing  doing  in  the  way  of  getting  employ- 
ment at  present. 

I  registered  at  the  Bowery  Mission  for  a  job,  but  they  admitted 
that  they  had  given  employment  to  only  a  few  men  among  the  sev- 
eral hundreds  from  whom  they  had  applications  and  that  the 
chances  of  work  were  very  poor.  In  the  evening  I  called  at  the 
Bowery  Branch  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  and 
they  said  that  I  could  register  in  the  day  time,  but  they  gave  me 
very  little  hope  of  securing  any  employment.  They  advised  me  to 
go  to  the  Twenty- third  Street  Branch,  although  they  said  that  they 
too  were  not  giving  many  jobs.  A  man  whom  I  met  on  the  street 
and  asked  for  work,  mentioned  the  Bowery  Branch  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  and  said  he  had  heard  from  several  of 
his  companions  that  they  took  two-thirds  of  the  first  week's  salary. 
I  didn't  have  any  opportunity  to  confirm  or  disprove  this  statement. 

I  made  an  application  to  the  Subway  Construction  Company  on 
Park  Row  and  found  that  over  20  men  had  been  making  application, 
but  without  any  immediate  success  for  most  of  them.  Some  of 
the  men  claimed  that  they  had  had  their  application  in  for  several 
weeks  and  that  they  had  good  references,  but  it  didn't  amount  to 
anything. 

The  manager  of  a  coach  company  asked  me  whether  I  could 
paint  and  upon  learning  that  I  could  said  that  there  might  possibly 


126  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

be  a  job,  but  later  withdrew  and  said  that  they  should  probably 
lay  off  100  men  within  a  few  days.  The  Manhattan  Storage 
Company  claimed  that  times  were  very  dull  and  that  there  was  no 
chance  of  their  having  any  work. 

An  application  at  the  new  building  being  erected  on  the  site  of 
the  old  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel  was  futile  and  I  was  referred  to  the 
Hedden  Construction  Company  where  the  manager  advised  me 
not  to  be  discouraged,  but  that  they  were  going  to  lay  off  most  of 
the  force  on  that  building  shortly,  and  probably  lay  off  a  good 
many  men  in  other  parts  of  the  city.  Coming  down  from  the 
elevator  in  the  Metropolitan  Building  I  overheard  a  man,  who 
gave  his  name  as  Nicholson,  state  that  construction  in  the  Bronx 
had  fallen  off  70  per  cent.  I  asked  him  if  he  could  help  me  get  a 
job  and  he  admitted  that  prospects  were  pretty  bad  particularly 
when  I  told  him  that  I  was  not  a  union  member. 

Several  employment  agencies  on  Greenwich  Street  visited  later 
in  the  afternoon  did  not  give  any  better  results  and  in  not  a  single 
case  did  I  get  any  definite  encouragement  from  any  one  of  the  em- 
ployment agencies  to  which  I  applied.  Following  the  suggestion 
of  my  saloon  friend  I  went  to  the  foreman  of  the  gang  putting  in 
tracks  on  Chatham  Street,  but  it  was  wet  and  he  informed  me  that 
they  wouldn't  do  any  work  during  the  day  so  that  it  was  no  use 
for  me  to  wait  for  the  job. 

A  second  visit  to  the  saloons  on  Thursday  night  enabled  me  to 
see  a  number  of  the  men  whom  I  had  seen  the  day  before  and  I 
talked  with  some  of  them.  Two  or  three  of  them  told  me  that 
they  had  been  looking  for  jobs  all  day  and  weren't  able  to  get  a 
thing.  A  man  I  talked  with  this  second  day  admitted  that  he 
would  go  to  work  on  a  farm  if  he  got  a  chance.  One  man,  a 
brakeman  on  the  Central  Railroad  of  New  Jersey,  advised  me  to 
apply  there  as  they  were  taking  men  for  braking,  but  he  had  no 
very  definite  statement. 

Experiences  in  Brooklyn  were  fully  as  unpropitious  as  in 
Manhattan.    Robert  Gair  had  a  sign  out  "  No  help  wanted"  and 


BENJAMIN  C.  MARSH 


127 


earnest  entreaties  on  my  part  did  not  succeed  in  getting  any  more 
favorable  reply  to  my  request  for  work.  The  Union  Lead  and  Oil 
Company,  the  automobile  works  and  a  nearby  machine  shop, 
although  I  applied  at  all  three  places  as  an  expert  machinist,  had 
no  hopes  for  me. 

D.  T.  Soper  and  Company,  who  were  starting  a  new  printing 
office,  said  that  in  two  weeks  they  might  possibly  have  a  job,  but 
there  was  no  chance  at  present.  Erbe,  Crombie  and  Lamothe, 
bindery,  had  no  chance.  The  Phoenix  Paper  Box  Company  had 
signs  out  "No  help  wanted"  and  confirmed  the  statement  upon 
application.  The  American  Can  Company  claimed  that  they  were 
laying  men  off,  but  that  they  might  possibly  have  a  job  within  a 
month.  Two  small  novelty  works  in  the  immediate  vicinity  said 
that  there  would  not  be  any  employment  for  additional  men  for 
several  weeks. 

Mason,  Au  and  Magenheimer,  confectioners,  had  out  a  sign 
"No  help  wanted"  and  they  said  that  they  could  hardly  get  work 
for  their  regular  employees.  The  Curran  Machine  Company  and 
W.  B.  Conrad  and  Company,  manufacturers  of  clothing  in  the 
same  building,  had  no  work,  but  the  latter  thought  they  might 
possibly  be  able  to  give  me  a  job  the  first  of  the  year. 

E.  W.  Bliss  and  Company  were  not  giving  employment  to  any 
men  in  any  of  their  departments,  either  in  Adams  Street,  Plymouth 
Street  or  First  Avenue,  and  claimed  that  they  would  not  be  able  to 
put  anyone  at  work  for  some  time. 

Arbuckle's  in  the  early  morning  advised  me  to  come  back  at 
six  at  night  when  I  would  probably  have  a  chance.  I  was  there  a 
little  before  that  hour  and  found  a  crowd  of  47  men,  Poles,  Swedes 
and  nationalities  indistinguishable  in  the  dark,  many  of  them  not 
able  to  speak  English.  We  blockaded  the  doorway  when  the  men 
were  coming  out  and  at  the  close  we  were  told  that  there  was  no 
job.  Several  of  the  men  told  me  that  they  had  been  there  every 
night  for  a  week,  but  that  very  few  of  the  men  had  been  successful 
in  getting  work. 


128 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


An  application  at  the  Adams  Express  Company  resulted  merely 
in  the  suggestion  that  I  come  back  with  a  letter  of  recommendation 
on  Monday  when  I  might  possibly  have  some  chance  if  the  letter 
were  good  enough. 

The  list  of  the  54  places  at  which  application  was  made  in  the 
two  days  is  as  follows : 

Employment  Agencies   8 

Railroad  Docks   5 

Specialties   4 

Express  Companies   3 

Contractors   3 

Foundries  —  3 

Machine  Shops   2 

Printing  Establishments   2 

Real  Estate   2 

Clothing  Manufacturers   2 

Cigar  Manufacturers   2 

Automobile  Works  

Leather  Goods  Manufacturers  

Showmen  

Department  Stores  

Cocoa  Manufacturing  Company  

Confectioners  

Analine  Works  

Soap  Manufacturer  

Polish  Manufacturer  

Draying  Companies  

Breweries  

Coffee  and  Sugar  Manufacturers  

Binderies  

Paper  Box  Companies  

Metropolitan  Street  Railway, 
Subway  Construction  Company, 
Bureau  of  Labor  State  Department  of  Agriculture,  . 
Information  Bureau  Department  of  Commerce 
and  Labor,  

54 


BENJAMIN  C.  MARSH 


129 


CONCLUSIONS. — As  far  as  conclusions  are  possible  from 
the  list  of  factories,  places  of  business  and  employment  agencies 
which  I  visited,  and  the  conversations  with  the  men,  they  were  as 
follows:  First,  it  was  an  extremely  bad  time  of  the  year,  just 
before  Christmas,  for  a  man  who  could  not  give  any  references  to 
make  any  attempt  to  secure  employment.  Even  making  allow- 
ances for  this  situation,  however,  the  position  is  rather  desperate 
and  the  giving  of  free  meals,  the  bread  line,  etc.,  not  only  have  a 
demoralizing  influence  upon  the  men,  but  befuddle  the  real  issue. 
There  are  scores,  if  not  hundreds,  of  the  men  who  are  drifting 
from  one  place  to  another,  getting  food  from  missions  and  simply 
"  making  out."  A  good  many  of  them  would  not  take  employment 
if  they  could  get  it,  but  in  conversation  with  over  40  men  I  found 
eight  or  nine  who  I  believe,  from  their  own  statements,  had  been 
making  continuous  and  earnest  efforts  to  secure  work. 

The  employers  may  have  hesitated  to  give  me  work  when  they 
knew  that  I  did  not  belong  in  the  city  as  I  stated  to  several  of  them. 
In  any  event  the  depression  in  lack  of  employment  is  serious  and 
is  aggravated  by  the  inability  of  the  men  to  get  away  from  the  city 
and  their  fear  of  being  exploited  if  they  go  on  farms. 


9 


APPENDIX  VI 


Study  of  Newspaper  Advertisements  as  a 
Medium  for  Securing  Work  and  Help 


REPORT  ON  "WANT  ADS"  AND  THE  LABOR  MARKET 

By  H.  G.  Paine 

"Want  Ads"  and  the  Tabor  Market. — At  the  request  of 
the  general  secretary  of  the  Charity  Organization  Society,  the 
writer  conducted  an  investigation  of  the  "want  ads"  ("Situations 
Wanted — Males"  and  "Help  Wanted — Males")  in  two  New 
York  daily  newspapers,  at  twelve  selected  periods  from  April, 
1902,  to  November,  1908,  for  the  purpose  of  learning  how  far 
they  reflect  the  general  trade  conditions  prevalent  at  those  times, 
and,  more  particularly,  the  relations  between  demand  and  supply 
in  the  labor  market  as  affected  by  those  conditions. 

Periods. — The  periods  selected  were  the  months  of  April, 
August  and  December  of  1902  and  1908,  the  month  of  October, 
1907,  just  before  the  recent  disturbance  in  the  financial  market, 
and  the  months  of  December,  1907,  February,  May,  July  and 
November,  1908,  following  the  so-called  "panic."  The  first 
six  periods  may  be  taken  as  representing  normal  conditions  in 
the  labor  market  during  the  spring,  summer  and  winter  in  years  of 
general  prosperity.  The  second  six  periods  were  chosen  to  study 
the  effects  of  hard  times  on  the  labor  market  and  to  illustrate  the 
present  condition  of  that  market. 

130 


H.  G.  PAINE 


Newspapers. — The  New  York  World  and  New  York  Herald 
were  chosen,  those  newspapers  printing  the  largest  number  of 
"want  ads,"  and  also  effectively  supplementing  and  complementing 
each  other,  by  attracting  different  classes  of  "want"  advertisers. 
The  issues  of  the  second  Sunday  in  each  of  the  selected  months 
were  taken  for  examination.  The  original  intention  was  to  in- 
clude the  New  York  American  in  the  investigation;  but  an  in- 
spection of  two  or  three  numbers  showed  that,  in  spite  of  the 
large  circulation  of  that  newspaper,  it  was  not  regarded  as  a  good 
medium  by  "want"  advertisers.  Very  few  such  advertisements 
were  printed,  and  many  of  those  seemed  to  be  of  a  doubtful  and 
even  spurious  character.  Scarcely  any  of  them  gave  addresses 
other  than  some  letter-box  in  the  American  office,  and  they  were 
frequently  so  vaguely  worded  as  to  be  little  likely  to  attract  in- 
quiries. 

Classification  of  Labor. — For  purposes  of  comparison  and 
analysis,  the  labor  field  was  divided  into  six  general  classes: 
clerical,  skilled,  unskilled,  agricultural,  domestic  and  professional. 

Clerical  labor  comprises  bookkeepers,  cashiers,  clerks,  col- 
lectors, correspondents,  salesmen,  secretaries,  stenographers  and 
typewriters,  managers  and  superintendents  of  stores  and  offices, 
and  agents  and  representatives  of  reputable  business  houses. 
Drug  clerks  are  included  under  this  head,  as  being  primarily  sales- 
men. 

Skilled  labor  comprises  all  mechanics  and  others  engaged  in 
trades  where  a  recognized  degree  of  manual  dexterity  is  required; 
chauffeurs,  chefs  (as  distinguished  from  cooks  in  private  families 
and  boarding-houses),  designers,  draughtsmen,  foremen  and 
superintendents  in  factories. 

Unskilled  labor  comprises  all  those  not  otherwise  specifically 
classified,  "useful  men,"  those  "willing  to  do  anything"  (not 
clerical),  bartenders  (large  numbers  of  them),  caretakers,  drivers 
(as  distinguished  from  coachmen),  furnacemen,  janitors  (of 
buildings  not  requiring  licensed  engineers),  laborers,  waiters 


132 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


(in  restaurants,  mostly  of  the  cheaper  sort),  watchmen,  and  so 
forth. 

Agricultural  labor  comprises  farm-hands,  farmers,  and  gar- 
deners (almost  exclusively  the  last  named). 

Domestic  labor  comprises  butlers,  coachmen  (as  distinguished 
from  drivers),  cooks  (as  distinguished  from  chefs),  footmen,  grooms, 
housemen,  second  men,  waiters  (in  private  and  boarding-houses). 

Professional  labor  comprises  actors,  artists  (as  distinguished 
from  designers),  dentists,  editors,  lawyers,  ministers,  musicians 
and  physicians. 

Classification  of  Employers. — A  classification  of  employers 
was  begun,  but  was  abandoned  as  greatly  increasing  the  labor  of 
investigation  without  adequate  results.  An  analysis  of  the  em- 
ployers advertising  in  a  single  number  of  the  World  showed  that 
while  some  merchants  wanted  mechanics,  and  some  manufacturers 
and  contractors  wanted  clerks,  the  balance  was  virtually  main- 
tained, as  shown  by  the  following  figures : 

Merchants  advertising   128 

Clerks  and  salesmen  wanted   127 

Manufacturers,  contractors  and  builders  advertising.  343 
Skilled  laborers  wanted   347 

Method  of  Investigation. — Score  sheets,  one  for  "  Situations 
Wanted"  and  one  for  "Help  Wanted,"  were  prepared  for  each 
copy  of  each  newspaper  to  be  examined  and  were  furnished  to  the 
examiner.  In  addition  to  the  six  classifications  already  mentioned 
a  separate  heading  on  each  sheet  was  made  for  "Boys"  and  on  the 
"Help  Wanted"  sheets  an  extra  heading,  "Fakes,"  was  made  for 
noting  down  any  advertisements  that,  on  close  examination,  did 
not  appear  to  represent  a  genuine  job  awaiting  the  applicant. 

The  examiner  read  each  advertisement,  calling  out  the  name 
of  the  class  within  which  it  fell  to  an  assistant  who  kept  tally  on  the 
score  sheet.  In  the  case  of  the  "Help  Wanted"  advertisements, 
he  noted  also  if  the  advertisement  called  for  more  than  one  worker, 


H.  G.  PAINE 


*33 


and  if  the  help  was  wanted  outside  of  the  five  boroughs.  The 
assistant  placed  a  dot  over  the  tally  in  the  first  instance  and  crossed 
it  in  the  second.  A  tally  with  a  cross  and  a  dot,  accordingly, 
signified  that  an  out-of-town  employer  wanted  more  than  one 
worker. 

The  writer  visited  the  Astor  Library,  where  the  examination 
was  carried  on,  twice  a  day,  and  gathered  up  the  score  sheets, 
making  his  own  additions,  and  tabulating  the  figures  on  other 
sheets,  one  for  each  date  and  for  both  papers.  The  figures  for 
the  two  papers  were  then  added  together  and  set  down  in  a  third 
column.  These  totals  represent  very  accurately  the  relations 
between  demand  and  supply  in  the  labor  market  at  the  specified 
periods  as  reflected  in  the  "want  ads"  of  those  dates,  and  indeed 
very  nearly  represent  the  entire  number  of  "want  ads",  the  sum 
total  of  "want  ads"  appearing  in  all  the  other  newspapers  being  a 
small  fraction  of  those  in  the  World  and  the  Herald  combined. 

Charts. — For  further  convenience  of  reference,  the  figures 
thus  gathered  were  transferred  to  three  charts :  one  for  the  World 
(Chart  No.  i),  one  for  the  Herald  (Chart  No.  2),  and  one  for  both 
papers  combined  (Chart  No.  3).  These  charts  are  so  arranged 
that  by  reading  downward  it  is  possible  to  compare  the  numbers 
of  "Situations  Wanted"  and  "Help  Wanted"  advertisements 
in  each  class  on  any  given  date,  and  by  reading  across,  to  compare 
the  figures  for  any  date  with  the  corresponding  figures  on  all  other 
dates.  In  Chart  No.  3  the  percentages  were  worked  out  and  set 
down  in  horizontal  columns  to  show  at  a  glance  what  relation  the 
number  of  "Situations  Wanted"  advertisements  of  a  given  class 
bear  to  the  total  number  of  "Situations  Wanted"  advertisements 
of  all  six  classes  on  that  date,  and  similarly  for  the  "Help  Wanted" 
advertisements.  In  the  case  of  the  "Help  Wanted"  advertise- 
ments the  percentages  were  similarly  worked  out  and  set  down  in 
perpendicular  columns  to  show  the  relation  between  the  legitimate 
and  the  total  apparent  demand  for  each  date. 


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138  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

For  convenience  in  differentiation,  different  faces  of  type  were 
employed  in  making  the  entries  under  different  heads.  For  the 
figures  for  "Situations  Wanted"  advertisements  No.  1  (plain 
Roman)  type  was  used,  and  No.  2  (italics)  type  for  those  for 
"Help  Wanted."  No.  3  (dark  face)  type  was  selected  to  indicate 
the  number  of  "Help  Wanted"  advertisements  calling  for  more 
than  one  worker,  and  No.  4  (dark  face  capitals)  type  to  indicate 
those  coming  from  outside  of  Greater  New  York.  No.  5  (title) 
type  was  used  for  out-of-town  advertisements  calling  for  more  than 
one  man.  These  advertisements  formed  so  small  a  fraction  of  the 
total  number  (exactly  1  per  cent.)  that  they  were  disregarded  in 
Chart  No.  3.  On  Chart  No.  3  the  percentages  of  the  total  "more 
than  one"  and  "out  of  town"  advertisements  to  the  total  number 
of  legitimate  "Help  Wanted"  advertisements  were  set  down, 
enclosed  in  brackets,  in  the  last  column. 

Analysis. — In  studying  the  results  obtained  it  will  be  found 
best  to  begin  at  the  end  and  to  work  backward.  Thus,  taking 
Chart  No.  3  and  referring  to  the  figures  in  the  right-hand  lower 
corner,  it  will  be  seen  that  on  the  Sundays  selected  37,992  "want 
ads — Males"  were  printed,  in  the  World  and  the  Herald  combined, 
an  average  of  3,166  for  each  Sunday.  The  figures  directly  above 
show  that  of  this  total  19,708  were  "Situations  Wanted"  and 
18,214  were  "Help  Wanted,"  which  would  indicate  an  excess  of 
only  1 ,494  of  the  former  over  the  latter. 

Boys. — This  inference,  however,  is  seen  to  be  misleading  as 
soon  as  the  figures  next  above  are  noted.  Nearly  3,000  of  the 
total  "want  ads"  refer  to  boys,  and  the  figures  772  and  2,175, 
show  that  there  were  1 ,403  more  boys  wanted  than  there  were  boys 
seeking  situations.  It  is  impossible  from  the  wording  of  the 
advertisements  to  classify  boy  "want  ads,"  and  no  attempt  to  do 
so  has  been  made.  The  demand  for  and  supply  of  boys  may  bear 
some  relation  to  the  condition  of  the  labor  market,  but  a  little 
consideration  will  show  that  this  relation  is  not  likely  to  be  reflected 
in  the  "want  ads"  of  the  newspapers.    Experience,  at  least, 


WANT  ADVERTISEMENTS,  NEW  YORK  "HERALD"  AND  "WORLD."    (All  Sundays) 

(Chart  No.  3) 


Class  of  Labor 

April  13,  1902  *-g* 

December  14,     April  9,  1905 

1902 

August  13, 
I9°S 

December  10. 
1905 

October  13, 
1907 

December  8, 
1907 

February  9, 
1908 

May  10, 1908 

July  12,  1908  j 

November  8, 
1908 

Summary 

1 
1 

a 
U 

& 

i 
£ 

s 

0 

I 

Jj 
B 
1 

s 
X 

| 

1 
0 

b 
| 
1 

a 

0 

1 

8 

1 

s 

0 

1 

i 

1 

a 
1 

J 

0 

a 

1 

0 

I 

1 
I 

1 

1 
1 

g 

S 
1 

O 

Number 

Clerical       !  More  than  One  Wanted  (3)  -  ■  ■ 
Clerical                 QF  TQWN  WANTED  (4) 

Percentages  (5)  

373 
234 
12 

8 

25.0  36. 

16.5 

312 
302 
22 
7 

30.1  38. 

■■ 

24.0 

•• 

369 
300 
21 
6 

32.8  40.6 

22.8 
• 

34 
10 

29.6  44.7 

24.* 

365 

8 

29.3  33.6 

20.(5 

COO 
461 
24 

6 

30.4  35.2 

20.0 

544 
426 
45 

4 

29.4  36.8 

22.0 

542 
199 
22 
2 

32.2  37.4 

19.6 

60I 

fix 

9 

34-  41.7 

19.2 

499 
179 

6 

245  31. 

379 
168 
6 
2 

26.9  37.4 

IJ-4 

745l 
308 
20 

5 

32.8  35.2 

17.8 

5651'  -. 
3578  19.6 
257  (2.6) 
73  (0.7) 
30.     36.  |  .. 

Skilled 
Unskilled 

More  than  One  Wanted  

OUT  OF  TOWN  WANTED. . . 
Percentages  

349 
44' 
103 

46 

24  3  49.3 

30.0 

233 

To 

17 

22.4  36.8 

232 

267 

« 
13 

23.7  34.4 

19-3 

264 
S 

19.4  33.6 

7*.J 

361 
40* 

si 

29.0  42.3 

25-9 

477 
112 
13 

24.2  36.3 

20.5 

445 
126 
19 

22.7  38.4 

23.0 

385 
172 

3i 

22.9  32.3 

id".* 

393 
202 
28 

9 

22.3  33. 

15-2 

545 
230 
38 
16 

26.7  39.8 

id".* 

372 
169 
21 
6 

26.3  37.6 

154 

598  .. 
415 1  24.0 
106  .. 
24  .. 
26.3  47.4  .. 

4599 

3859'     21  I 

875  (8.8) 
209  (2.1) 
24.   38.9  .. 

OUT  OF  TOWN  WANTED. . . 
I'crccntsigcs .  

136 
24 
8 

23.S  15.3 

'9.0 
1.9 

3°  1 
140 

1 

29.  17.6 

tia 

- 

134 

26.1  18.2 

10. J 

T6 
12 
7 

17.4  13-3 

"d'.d 

227 
43 
4 

24.7  19.3 

JI.« 

300 

1 

26.8  22.8 

13- 

*-?o 
36 

17.9  14.3 

'is 

301 

u 

17.911.8 

"(5.2 

259 
59 
10 
3 

147  9.6 

64 
11 

11 

3.6  1.8 

4-4 

378 
98 
20 
1 

18.5  16.9 

7i 

327 
59 
3 

23.2"i3.2 

5-5 

482 
95 
12 

21.2  io.9 

55 

4010 

1573'  8.6 
294  (3.0) 
45  (0.4) 
■1,1    16.|  .. 

Agricultural 

More  than  One  Wanted  

OUT  OF  TOWN  WANTED. . . 
Percentages.  

28 
28 

41  3.2 

9 
2 

9 

2.1  1.1 

J 

6 

.8  .8 

".d 

65 
25 

4.7  3.3 

V.; 

13 
13 

35  1.1 

•7 

19 
7 

7 

1.1  .5 

■3 

34 
14 

14 

1.8  1.2 

•7 

26 

6 
6 

1.6  1.1 

"d 

".8 

81 
11 

11 

4.0  1.9 

".* 

50 
9 

9 

35  2.0 

".8 

58 

12 

12 

35  1.4 

53*1  ■- 
151  -8 

151  (1.5) 
2.8  1.6 

More  than  One  Wanted  

OUT  OF  TOWN  WANTED. . . 
Percentages  

»S3 
17 

2 

17.7  1.9 

1.2 

107 
7 

10.3"  .9 

".6 
3-5 

15 

10.3  2. 

I.I 

328 
1/ 

23.5  1-4 

"V 

96 
0 

7-7  .8 

•5 

196 

11.7  .6 

•4 

% 
1 

23.3  4.7 

'2.8 

318 
1 

18.9"  9.1 

V-7 

373 

45 
2 

4.0 

'37 

437 
19 
4 

21.4  3.3 

r«i 

213 
7 

151  1.6 

".6 

?3i8 
13 

15. 1  1.5 

".* 

3186  .. 
2J7  i-4 
2^  (0.3) 

16.9  2.5 

Professional 

More  than  One  Wanted  

OUT  OF  TOWN  WANTED. . . 
Percentages  

6s 
41 

4 

4-5  4.5 

'2.8 

03 
44 

3 

6.1  5.0 

30 
5 

6.2  4. 

2-3 

39 
3 

5-4  4-9 

2.7 

34 

58  2.9 

7.* 

60 

! 

5.8  4.6 

*5 

90 
53 

5 

4.9  4.6 

'2.8 

109 
44 

1 

6.5  8.3 

!! 

4-3 

76 
jd 

2 

;.!> 

'2.7 

IOO 

41 

2 
2 

4-9  7.1 

i-o 

70 
37 

5.0  8.2 

34 

7i 

32 

5  0  "*3.6 

v.* 

958      -  - 
491  2.9 
23  (0.2) 
32  (0.3) 
50     4.9  .. 

Total 
Classified 

Help  Wanted  

More  than  One  Wanted  

OUT  OF  TOWN  WANTED. . . 
Percentages  

1438 
807 

ioo.  100* 

61.4 

1038 
794 
129 

ioo3 

63.1 

1125 

Ul 

36 

100.  100. 

56.2 

Z786 
"3 

ioo4 

1176 
168 
49 

100.  100. 

1313 

1934 
100.  100. 

56.7 

115* 
206 
49 

100.  100. 

59-8 

1681 
532 
78 
13 

100.  100. 

52.2 

1766 
612 

e 

100  100. 

46.0 

2040 
578 
72 
36 

100.  100. 

42.3 

141 1 

449 

100.  100. 

41.I 

2272 

4 

100.  ICO. 

507 

18,936 
9909 
1461 
517 
100.  100. 

54-4 
(II.7) 
(5.0) 

Fakes,  etc. 

Total  for 
Men 

358 

245 

329 

26.1 

364 

27.8 

470 

32.2 

504 

2(5.2 

.57* 

24.9 

475 

24.6 

380 

37-2 

d?o 

47-3 

714 

52.2 

53-3 

747 

43.2 

6130 

33-7 

Help  Wanted  

Percentages  

1438 
1255 

1038 
1123 

1125 
1 103 

1394 

1245 
1680 

1677 
1891 

1849 
idji 

1681 
912 

j 

766 
342 

2040 
1295 

1411 

2272 

ld22 

18,936 
16,039 

Boys 

Help  Wanted  

Percentages  

55 
213 

14-1 

63 
136 

10.8 

45 
212 

i6jo 

64 

202 

•- 

13-9 

72 
241 

12.5 

60 
427 

18.4 

5i 
304 

iV.d 

37 
IOQ 

10.6 

82 
s9 

'6.7 

75 
75 

55 

•23 

di 

"5.6 

iod 

6.1 

772 
2175 

11.9 

Total  for 
Males 

Percentages  

1493 
1468 

100.0 

IIOI 

1259 

100.0 

1 170 
1315 

100.0 

1458 
1458 

100.0 

1317 
1921 

100.0 

1737 
2318 

100.0 

1900 
1937 

100.0 

1718 
1021 

100.0 

1 
J 

848 

100.0 

2115 

1367 

100.0 

1484 
lopi 

100.0 

2367 
1728 

19.708 
18,214 

100.0 

2961 

2360 

2485 

2916 

3238 

405S 

3837 

2739 

(179 

3482 

2575 

4095 

37.922 

Note. — Percentage  figures  in  perpendicular  columns  refer  to  "  Help  Wanted  "  advertisements  only,  and 
indicate  the  percentage  of  each  division  to  total  number  printed;  including  "Fakes  "  and  "Boys." 

Percentage  figures  in  horizontal  columns  refer  to  legitimate  advertisements  by  and  for  Men  only. 

Bracketed  figures  in  last  column  indicate  percentage  of  "mote  than  one"  and  "out  of  town"  demands 
to  total  number  of  legitimate  "Help  Wanted"  Advertisements. 


H.  G.  PAINE 


139 


demonstrates  that  the  "want  ads"  do  not  reflect  the  real  ratio 
between  the  demand  and  the  supply  of  boys.  Advertise  for  a 
boy  to  apply  in  person  at  your  office  or  store,  and  you  will  very 
likely  have  more  applicants  than  the  total  number  of  boys  ad- 
vertising for  jobs,  while  other  advertisers  for  boys  are  probably 
having  similar  experiences  in  various  parts  of  the  city. 

The  obvious  conclusion  is  simply  that  boys  as  a  class  don't 
advertise.  There  are  two  principal  reasons  for  this.  One  is 
that  the  average  boy  has  no  money  to  spend  in  advertising,  and 
the  other  is  that  as  a  rule  he  has  nothing  to  advertise  excepting 
the  fact  that  he  is  a  boy.  Probably  few  employers  would  take 
the  time  or  trouble  to  answer  advertisements  by  boys.  It  is 
easier  for  the  employer  to  insert  a  "Help  Wanted"  advertisement, 
and  by  casting  his  eye  over  the  crowd  who  apply,  to  pick  out  a  few 
of  the  most  likely  looking  for  closer  inspection;  or,  if  the  boy  is 
wanted  for  office  work,  to  have  them  apply  in  the  first  instance  in 
writing,  and  then  to  invite  those  sending  the  best  letters  to  call  in 
person.  The  employer  is  looking  for  brightness,  for  capacity  to 
assimilate  instruction,  not  for  experience,  and  he  depends  on  his 
knowledge  of  human  nature  to  guide  him  in  the  selection. 

For  the  purposes  of  the  present  consideration,  accordingly, 
the  boy  factor  may  and  should  be  eliminated  from  the  problem; 
and  the  figures  next  above  show  that  when  men  alone  are  con- 
sidered there  are  18,936  "Situations  Wanted"  to  16,039  "Help 
Wanted"  advertisements,  a  difference  of  nearly  2,900. 

Fakes. — How  misleading  these  figures  are,  however,  will 
instantly  be  seen  by  looking  at  the  line  above,  where  it  is  shown 
that  of  the  "Help  Wanted"  advertisements  no  fewer  than  6,130, 
or  33.7  per  cent.,  fall  under  the  head  of  "fakes." 

A  great  variety  of  advertisements  come  under  this  classifica- 
tion, which  comprises  every  kind  printed  in  the  "Help  Wanted" 
columns  that  does  not  represent  a  legitimate  wage- earning  oppor- 
tunity. The  great  majority  are  advertisements  calling  for  agents, 
canvassers,  collectors,  salesmen,  solicitors  and  so  forth  (and  for 


140  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

managers  and  superintendents  in  those  cases  where  a  close  exam- 
ination discloses  that  these  terms  are  merely  euphemisms  for  agent 
or  canvasser),  where  the  reward,  if  any,  depends  upon  commissions 
and  where  the  "  employee "  receives  nothing  until  the  commission 
is  earned.  Care  was  taken  to  differentiate  these  advertisements 
from  those  of  responsible  business  houses  who  might  desire  to 
engage  salesmen  whose  income  would  depend  upon  the  amount 
of  trade  they  would  be  able  to  control. 

Other  advertisements  comprised  under  "fakes"  are  those  of 
civil  service  schools  and  other  offers  of  instruction,  of  employment 
agencies,  and  those  evidently  coming  from  employment  agencies, 
as  well  as  many  more  or  less  veiled  efforts  to  dispose  of  various 
wares  under  the  guise  of  "samples,"  "outfits,"  etc.,  including 
offers  of  "work  to  be  done  at  home,"  where  the  dupe  purchases 
raw  material  from  the  advertiser  to  decorate  or  otherwise  to  trans- 
form, but  which  is  never  accepted  as  "up  to  the  necessary  stand- 
ard." All  requests  for  "amateur  actors  to  join  dramatic  company 
in  process  of  formation"  are  classed  as  "fakes." 

Flourish  ln  Hard  Times. — Before  proceeding  to  a  con- 
sideration of  the  genuine  "want  ads,"  it  may  prove  interesting 
to  pursue  the  study  of  these  "fakes"  a  little  further.  Run  the 
eye  to  the  left,  following  the  line  of  "fake  ads"  printed  on  the 
twelve  different  dates  selected.  It  will  be  seen  that  under  fairly 
normal  conditions  of  the  labor  market,  they  run  from  24.5  to 
34.2  per  cent,  of  the  total  number  of  "Help  Wanted"  advertise- 
ments; but  that,  beginning  with  December,  1907  (when  the 
excess  genuine  visible  supply  begins  rapidly  to  increase),  the  per- 
centage of  fakes  advances  with  leaps  and  bounds  to  53.3  per  cent, 
in  July,  1908.  There  is  a  drop  in  November  to  43.2  per  cent., 
although  in  that  month  the  actual  number  of  fakes  reaches  its 
highest  mark,  747.  It  would  appear,  accordingly  that,  roughly 
speaking,  the  percentage  of  "fake  ads"  varies  inversely  with  the 
actual  demand  for  labor.  The  harder  the  times,  the  more  the 
fakes  blossom  out  in  the  advertising  columns. 


H.  G.  PAINE 


141 


Agents,  Salesmen  and  Canvassers. — There  are  various 
reasons  for  this  phenomenon.  In  the  first  place  many  of  these 
advertisements  are  clearly  traps  to  catch  "  suckers,"  and  to  draw 
from  the  pockets  of  the  desperate  and  the  inexperienced  the  few 
dollars  they  have  remaining  or  can  raise.  Such  are  most  of  those 
requiring  "security"  or  necessitating  the  purchase  of  "outfits," 
etc.  In  the  second  place,  many  concerns  which  regularly  employ 
agents  and  canvassers,  find  their  sales  falling  off  in  hard  times, 
and  seek  to  stem  the  tide  by  engaging  more  salesmen,  or  find 
themselves  compelled  to  supply  the  places  of  former  agents  who 
have  given  up  on  account  of  the  impossibility  of  making  a  living 
when  people  refuse  to  buy.  In  the  third  place  insurance  companies 
and  other  concerns  employing  canvassers  and  collectors  endeavor 
at  such  periods  to  get  in  touch  with  men  who  are  out  of  work  and 
who  would  not  ordinarily  seek  such  employment,  advertising 
for  "managers,"  "superintendents,"  etc.,  from  branch  offices 
in  different  parts  of  the  city. 

Sometimes  differently  worded  advertisements  will  lead  to  the 
same  office.  A  concern  with  an  office  in  the  Brunswick  Building 
used  two  forms  of  advertisement,  each  giving  a  different  address, 
one  the  Fifth  Avenue  door,  the  other  the  Twenty-sixth  Street  door. 
This  was  discovered  by  a  man  who  actually  answered  the  two 
advertisements. 

Again,  men  who  have  themselves  been  thrown  out  of  employ- 
ment, try  to  start  in  business  for  themselves  with  a  minimum  of 
capital,  and  adopt  this  way  of  selling  their  wares  at  a  minimum 
of  expense.  The  salesman  gives  his  time  and  effort,  and  receives 
nothing  if  unsuccessful,  although  the  fault  may  rest  rather  with 
the  kind  or  quality  of  his  wares  than  with  the  salesman  himself. 

A  Mean  Form  of  Graft. — Advertisements  for  real  estate 
salesmen  are  especially  suspicious,  and  the  experience  of  a  friend 
of  the  writer's  shows  them  to  be  mostly  "fakes"  and  reveals  a 
peculiarly  mean  form  of  "graft."  A  real  estate  speculator  engages 
a  man  to  sell  lots  on  commission.    A  real  estate  deal  usually 


142 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


requires  considerable  "working  up"  before  it  is  consummated. 
The  prospective  purchaser  must  be  visited  two  or  three  times, 
perhaps,  before  he  will  go  to  look  at  the  suburb  or  "  addition." 
His  railway  fares  must  be  paid.  He  must  be  placated  with  lunch. 
This  takes  time,  effort  and  money,  all  contributed  by  the  salesman. 
Just  about  the  time  that  the  customer  is  ready  to  close,  the  specu- 
lator declares  that  it  is  clear  from  the  time  that  has  elapsed  that 
the  salesman  is  not  up  to  his  job,  steps  in  and  effects  the  sale 
himself,  while  the  salesman  gets  nothing  and  is  out  his  time  and 
expenses.  Even  if  the  salesman,  through  inexperience,  could  not 
have  made  the  sale  himself,  the  speculator  has  been  saved  all  the 
trouble  and  cost  of  the  " working  up"  process.  The  customer  has 
been  told  everything  he  is  to  be  permitted  to  know  about  the 
property,  excepting  the  interesting  fact  that  he  is  going  to  buy  it. 
To  convey  that  information  convincingly  requires  the  intervention 
of  the  glib  and  plausible  real  estate  " expert"  himself. 

Genuine  Supply  and  Demand. — Eliminating,  then,  " fakes" 
and  "boys"  from  the  "Help  Wanted"  advertisements,  there 
remains  a  total  apparent  demand  of  9,909  as  against  a  supply  of 
18,936. 

More  Than  One  Wanted. — These  figures,  however,  fail 
to  express  the  actual  relation  of  demand  and  supply  even  as 
reflected  in  the  "want  ads";  for  each  "Situations  Wanted" 
advertisement  proclaims  the  desire  of  only  a  single  worker  for 
labor,  while  the  figures  in  purple  ink  show  that  1,461  employers 
wanted  more  than  one  worker.  More  than  one  means  at  least 
two,  and  may  mean  many  more.  Only  occasionally  is  the  exact 
number  specified,  as  when  one  contractor  calls  for  "twenty  car- 
penters," and  another  asks  for  "ten  sailors  to  paint  ships,"  or 
when  a  tailor  asks  for  "two  bushelmen."  Usually  the  advertiser 
contents  himself  with  the  use  of  the  plural,  stating  that  "tin- 
smiths," "painters"  or  what  not  are  wanted.  It  is  clear  then, 
that  the  total  "Help  Wanted"  advertisements  should  be  increased 


H.  G.  PAINE 


143 


to  11,370  by  the  addition  of  1,461,  as  a  minimum,  and  it  would 
probably  be  within  limits  to  add  another  1,461,  making  12,831. 

Help  Wanted  Out  of  Town. — So  far  as  the  labor  market  in 
the  city  is  concerned,  these  figures  would  still  further  have  to  be 
revised  by  disregarding  the  517  advertisements  from  out  of  town 
employers,  although  they  undoubtedly  offer  opportunities  to  men 
living  in  New  York  who  care  to  or  who  are  able  to  move  to  another 
town.  Although  it  does  not  appear  on  Chart  No.  3,  it  is  interesting 
to  note  that  of  these  517  advertisements  from  out  of  town  99,  or 
19. 1  per  cent.,  call  for  more  than  one  worker,  as  against  a  per  cent, 
of  1 1.7  of  "more  than  one"  advertisements  to  the  total  number 
of  "Help  Wanted." 

Apparent  Excess  Supply. — In  the  period  selected,  however, 
there  is  still  seen  to  be  considerable  excess  of  supply  over  demand, 
and  a  glance  at  the  two  first  totals  in  each  of  the  six  classifications 
will  show  that  this  excess  has  been  generally  maintained. 

Professional  Labor. — Taking  the  different  classifications  in 
order  and  still  working  upward,  it  is  seen  that  professional  "want 
ads"  are  of  small  importance  numerically,  forming  only  5  per  cent, 
of  the  "Situations  Wanted "  and  4.9  per  cent,  of  the  "Help  Wanted" 
advertisements,  while  inspection  proves  them  to  be  of  small  impor- 
tance professionally.  Most  of  the  "artists,"  "dentists"  and 
"musicians"  sought  for  and  seeking  employment  are  of  a  grade 
below  many  of  those  appearing  under  the  head  of  skilled  labor. 
They  are  usually  sought  for  singly,  only  23  employers  calling  for 
more  than  one  of  a  kind,  while  32  were  wanted  out  of  town, 
indicating  that  New  York  is  still  regarded  as  the  center  of  culture 
and  the  fine  arts ! 

Domestic  Labor. — The  class  of  "Domestic  Labor,"  next 
above,  shows  an  amazing  discrepancy  between  the  number  of 
those  seeking  employment  and  these  seeking  help, — 3,166  to  257. 
On  the  face  of  it,  no  such  ratio  of  difference  can  exist  between  the 
actual  supply  and  demand.  If  it  did,  men  servants  would  seek 
other  employment.    The  natural  explanation  is  that  as  a  rule 


144 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


employers  of  male  domestic  labor  do  not  advertise,  but  prefer  to 
interview  servants  at  responsible  agencies  and  intelligence  offices, 
or  to  answer  advertisements,  asking  a  few  selected  men  to  call  at 
hours  when  they  will  not  encounter  one  another  and  be  able  to  ex- 
change notes.  Experience  also  indicates  that  this  great  number  of 
servants  constantly  seeking  situations  is  due  in  part  to  the  ease  with 
which  servants  can  get  engagements  when  out  of  work,  which  makes 
them  ready  to  leave  places  on  little  provocation,  or  if  things  do  not 
exactly  suit  them.  The  servant  problem  has  always  been  a  diffi- 
cult one,  but  the  excess  of  supply  has  never  seemed  to  be  a  factor  in 
it.  The  problem  has  usually  stood  by  itself,  as  apart  from  the 
general  labor  problem,  and  it  would  perhaps  have  been  better  to 
treat  it  separately  in  this  investigation.  The  elimination  of 
"Domestic  Labor"  from  the  division  of  classified  labor  in  Chart 
No.  3  would  make  the  total  figures  for  " Situations  Wanted" 
14,750,  and  for  "Help  Wanted"  9,652,  and  counting  each  of  those 
calling  for  more  than  one  to  mean  at  least  two,  14,750  to  11,341. 

Japanese  as  Servants. — While  still  considering  the  question 
of  "Domestic  Labor"  it  is  worth  while  to  note  how  largely  the 
Japanese  figure  in  both  supply  and  demand  columns,  as  valets  and 
houseworkers.  And  it  may  be  worth  noting,  also,  that  experience 
has  shown  that  the  Japanese  are  notoriously  inconstant  in  their 
allegiance  to  white  employers,  changing  places  frequently,  although 
usually  ready  to  supply  a  substitute.  The  substitute,  however,  is 
often  unsatisfactory,  with  the  result  that  the  next  day  a  Japanese 
boy  is  advertising  for  a  place  and  an  employer  is  looking  for  a  boy. 

Agricultural  Labor. — Agricultural  labor  figures  so  slightly 
in  the  "want  ad"  columns  of  the  New  York  newspapers  as  scarcely 
to  warrant  a  separate  classification.  Gardeners  form  the  bulk  of 
those  noted,  and  it  has  been  assumed  that  all  were  wanted  for 
places  out  of  town,  although  it  is  possible  that  a  few  may  have  been 
employed  within  the  city  limits.  When  an  advertiser  gives  his  ad- 
dress as  the  Herald  office  or  somewhere  in  Worth  Street,  it  is  impos- 
sible to  determine  whether  he  lives  in  New  Jersey  or  Staten  Island. 


H.  G.  PAINE 


145 


Unskilled  Labor. — "  Unskilled  Labor,"  next  after  "  Domestic 
Labor,"  shows  the  greatest  discrepancy  between  supply  and 
demand.  Even  allowing  for  those  cases  where  more  than  one  were 
wanted,  the  apparent  supply  was  more  than  double  the  apparent 
demand. 

Skilled  Labor. — "Skilled  Labor,"  however,  shows  a  close 
balance  between  supply  and  demand.  The  difference,  only  740, 
is  more  than  made  up  by  the  875  cases  where  employers  wanted 
more  than  one  worker,  affording  the  only  instance  in  classified 
labor  where  the  total  demand  exceeds  the  total  supply.  "Skilled 
Labor"  also  shows  the  greatest  percentage  (exclusive  of  " Agricul- 
tural Labor")  of  "out-of-town"  demands.  Note  that  skilled  labor 
amounts  to  38.9  per  cent,  of  the  total  demand  for  labor  and  only  to 
24.2  per  cent,  of  the  total  supply.  It  would  appear  that  the 
skilled  laborer  has  a  better  chance  to  procure  employment  than 
any  other  kind  of  worker.  It  was  observed  in  the  course  of  this 
investigation  that  " housesmiths "  did  not  figure  at  all  in  the  "want 
ads,"  and  that  the  building  trades  in  general  made  little  use  of  the 
"want"  columns.  There  were  some  carpenters  and  painters 
wanted  for  jobs  and  in  shops,  and  for  out  of  town  demands,  and 
occasional  masons  and  plasterers,  but  the  labor  for  big  building 
operations  appears  to  be  secured  independently  of  the  newspapers. 
The  noticeable  increase  of  chauffeurs,  advertising  and  advertised 
for,  during  the  last  two  years  prompted  a  rough  comparison  with 
"coachmen,"  with  the  result  that  there  was  noticed  an  apparent 
increase  in  the  supply  of  the  latter,  indicating  some  relation  be- 
tween the  two  employments,  and  that  the  character  of  one  kind  of 
service  was  in  process  of  elevation  from  the  grade  of  "domestic" 
to  skilled  labor. 

Clerical  Labor. — "Clerical  Labor"  bulks  numerically  most 
largely  of  all  the  six  classes  in  the  "want  ads,"  but  only  slightly 
more  than  Skilled  Labor,  as  will  be  seen  by  adding  together  the 
figures  for  demand  and  supply  in  both  cases,  which  is  not  done  on 
the  chart.  The  totals  are  9,229  for  "clerical"  and  8,458  for 
10 


I46  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

"skilled,"  but  adding  257  and  875  respectively  for  "more  than  one" 
demands,  the  results  are  changed  to  9,486  and  9,333.  Supply 
largely  exceeds  demand,  however,  in  the  case  of  "Clerical  Labor," 
as  is  shown  by  the  actual  figures  as  well  as  by  the  percentage. 
Compared  with  "Skilled  Labor,"  it  is  interesting  to  observe  the 
difference  between  the  "more  than  one"  demands  and  also  that 
between  the  "out-of-town"  demands, — 73  to  209.  It  is  evidently 
easier  for  an  out-of-town  employer  to  find  the  clerk  that  he  wants 
in  his  own  neighborhood  than  it  is  to  find  the  skilled  labor  that  he 
needs.  Any  one  who  can  read,  write  and  cipher  is  a  potential 
clerk,  but  skilled  laborers,  when  the  local  demand  is  exhausted, 
are  naturally  sought  in  the  great  centers  of  industrial  activity. 

The  greater  number  of  "more  than  one"  demands  in  the  case 
of  skilled  labor  is  possibly  due  to  the  fact  that  productive  labor 
responds  more  immediately  to  trade  fluctuations.  If  a  manufac- 
turer receives  a  sudden  demand  for  more  goods  than  he  can  nor- 
mally produce  with  his  usual  force  of  operatives  within  a  specified 
time,  he  must  increase  his  force  until  the  emergency  has  passed. 
The  order  may  have  come  through  a  mercantile  establishment 
which  will  find  the  handling  of  the  additional  business  no  special 
tax  upon  its  normal  force  of  clerks. 

The  average  tenure  of  service  may  be  longer  in  the  case  of 
clerks  than  of  mechanics  as  a  result  of  this  slower  response  to  trade 
fluctuations,  and  this  might  account  for  the  greater  excess  of  supply 
in  one  case  than  the  other,  without  necessarily  implying  an  inferior 
condition  in  the  labor  market, — the  average  clerk  having  to  wait 
longer  for  his  job  than  the  average  mechanic,  but  holding  it  longer 
when  he  has  obtained  it.  This  is  merely  suggested  as  a  subject 
for  possible  further  consideration  or  investigation. 

A  considerable  proportion  of  those  advertising  for  clerical 
situations  are  foreigners,  and  the  chief  examiner  in  this  investiga- 
tion, himself  of  foreign  birth,  volunteers  the  comment  that  "many 
of  these  men,  while  without  any  particular  trade  or  profession,  are 
of  more  than  ordinary  culture  and  attainments."    The  examiner 


H.  G.  PAINE 


147 


is  a  man  of  long  residence  and  newspaper  experience  in  New  York. 
It  may  be  noted  that  banks,  banking  houses,  trust  companies  and 
other  financial  concerns  do  not  figure  in  the  "Help  Wanted" 
columns.  They  have,  as  a  rule,  more  applications  on  their  waiting 
lists  than  would  supply  them  all  with  a  full  force  of  employees. 

Comparison  by  Periods. — A  comparison  of  the  totals  of 
classified  "Situations  Wanted"  and  "Help  Wanted"  advertise- 
ments printed  on  each  of  the  selected  dates  will  afford  an  interesting 
study.  If  in  1902  and  1905,  the  misleading  item  of  "Domestic 
Labor"  will  be  disregarded,  and  an  allowance  of  one  additional  be 
made  for  each  "Help  Wanted"  advertisement  calling  for  "more 
than  one"  workers,  the  results  will  show  much  less  difference 
between  supply  and  demand  than  appears  from  a  superficial 
examination.  As  these  figures  were  not  worked  out  in  the  chart, 
they  are  given  here : 


1902 

1903 

April 

August 

December 

April 

August 

December 

Situations  Wanted  

Help  Wanted  

1185 
1019 

931 
916 

1009 
852 

1066 
888 

1 149 
1335 

1481 
1504 

166 

15 

iS7 

178 

186 

23 

It  will  be  seen  that  in  August  and  December,  1905,  demand 
actually  exceeded  supply  and  that  there  was  a  negligible  difference 
in  August,  1902.  The  figures  for  1907  and  1908,  however,  tell  a 
different  story : 


1907 

1908 

October 

December 

February 

May 

July 

November 

1418 

1363 

1393 

1603 

1198 

1954 

Help  Wanted  

1310 

562 

620 

631 

476 

1000 

108 

801 

773 

972 

722 

954 

148  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

In  October,  just  before  the  "panic,"  the  balance  was  very 
nearly  maintained;  but  in  December  the  demand  had  fallen  off 
tremendously,  and  it  is  odd  to  note  that  the  supply  had  actually 
fallen  off  also.  This  may  indicate  that  employers  were  keeping 
on  old  employees,  so  far  as  possible,  but  without  taking  on  the 
extra  hands  that  the  holiday  trade  usually  calls  for.  The  figures 
for  1908  seem  to  indicate  that  the  conditions  so  far  as  the  labor 
market  is  concerned,  have  not  improved,  the  figures  for  November 
8  showing  a  greater  volume  of  demand,  indeed,  but  a  corresponding 
increase  of  supply. 

Comparison  by  Principal  Classes. — Taking  up  the  three 
principal  classes  of  labor, — clerical,  skilled  and  unskilled, — and 
comparing  them  with  respect  to  demand  and  supply  at  the  selected 
periods,  and  allowing  for  the  advertisements  calling  for  more  than 
one,  it  is  seen  that  in  every  month  up  to  December,  1907,  the  appar- 
ent demand  for  skilled  labor  was  in  excess  of  the  supply:  236  in 
excess  in  August,  1905,  184  in  excess  in  December,  1905,  151  in 
excess  in  October,  1907. 

At  the  same  seven  periods  the  supply  of  clerical  labor  was 
somewhat  more  than  the  demand,  excepting  in  August,  1902, 
and  in  August,  1905,  when  the  balance  was  the  other  way.  The 
greatest  excess  of  supply  was  in  April,  1902,  when  it  was  127. 
It  was  only  48  in  December,  1902,  only  28  in  April,  1905,  only  24 
in  December,  1905,  and  73  in  October,  1907. 

On  none  of  these  dates  did  the  demand  for  unskilled  labor 
approach  anywhere  near  the  supply.  The  most  favorable  months 
were  August  and  December,  1905. 

Beginning  with  December,  1907,  each  of  the  three  principal 
classes  shows  a  persistent  excess  of  supply,  the  demand  being 
consistently  strongest  in  the  case  of  skilled  labor  (rising  to  521 
"Help  Wanted"  as  against  598  "Situations  Wanted"  in  Novem- 
ber, 1908)  and  weakest  in  the  case  of  unskilled  labor,  falling  to  62 
as  against  372  in  July,  1908,  and  to  107  as  against  482  in  Novem- 


H.  G.  PAINE 


149 


ber,  1908.  At  no  time  since  October,  1908,  has  the  demand  for 
clerical  labor  equalled  50  per  cent,  of  the  supply. 

Observations. — It  is  apparent,  accordingly,  that  to  some 
considerable  extent,  at  least,  the  "want  ads"  reflect  the  condition 
of  the  labor  market,  when  certain  obviously  misleading  factors 
have  been  eliminated.  How  far  other  factors  not  herein  taken  into 
account  may  affect  the  apparent  result  one  way  or  another  it  is 
not  possible  from  the  data  at  hand  to  determine.  In  spite  of 
the  large  number  of  "want  ads"  published  every  week,  they  must 
comprise  a  very  small  proportion  of  the  actual  labor  exchange. 
The  actual  relations  of  supply  and  demand  may  be  quite  different 
from  those  of  the  want  columns.  It  would  seem  as  if  the  "Help 
Wanted"  advertisements  would  be  likely  to  stand  in  a  closer  rela- 
tion to  the  actual  demand  than  the  "Situations  Wanted"  adver- 
tisements; for  no  employer  with  an  unsatisfied  demand  for  labor 
would  spare  the  trouble  or  cost  of  an  advertisement,  while  with 
many  men  out  work,  the  "want  ad"  is  only  made  use  of  as  a  last 
resort. 

Several  men  who  have  advertised  for  situations  were  inter- 
viewed, but  not  enough  to  form  the  foundation  of  a  judgment  as 
to  the  effectiveness  of  this  means  of  getting  employment.  A  great 
deal  must  depend  upon  the  class  of  labor  offered,  the  manner  in 
which  the  advertisement  is  worded  and  the  period  at  which  it  is 
printed.  Some  said  that  the  only  answers  they  had  received  to 
"Situations  Wanted"  advertisements  were  from  employment 
agencies  and  from  concerns  wanting  agents  and  canvassers. 
Others  have  received  notifications  to  call  which  did  not  result  in 
employment.  A  few  had  been  successful  in  obtaining  work  by 
this  means.  As  in  the  case  of  men  who  depend  upon  answering  the 
"Help  Wanted"  advertisements,  success  must  inevitably  depend 
largely  upon  the  persistence,  the  personality  and  the  capability 
of  the  applicant. 

"World"  and  "Herald"  Compared. — Turning  from  Chart 
No.  3  to  Nos.  1  and  2,  it  is  interesting  to  note  the  different  impres- 


150  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

sions  as  to  the  relative  volume  of  supply  and  demand  in  the  differ- 
ent classes  of  labor  conveyed  by  these  two  charts. 

In  spite  of  the  falling  off  in  demand  since  October,  1907,  the 
World  shows  a  slight  excess  of  demand  in  its  grand  total,  6,664 
to  6,632;  while  the  Herald's  corresponding  figures  are  4,706  to 
12,304.  Thus,  it  is  seen  that  the  Herald  is  preferred  as  a  medium 
by  those  with  labor  to  sell,  while  more  employers  patronize  the 
World.  Clerks  and  servants  figure  most  largely  among  the 
patrons  of  the  Herald's  "want  ad"  columns,  while  skilled  labor 
and  its  employers  take  up  nearly  half  of  the  World's  "want  ad" 
space.  Unskilled  labor  advertises  almost  equally  in  both  news- 
papers, but  finds  more  than  twice  as  many  jobs  waiting  for  it  in 
the  World. 

The  arrangement  and  classification  of  "want  ads"  is  much 
better  managed  in  the  World  than  in  the  Herald.  In  the  former, 
it  is  easy  to  find  what  you  are  looking  for,  if  it  is  there.  In  the 
latter,  it  is  necessary  to  read  carefully  every  advertisement  to  be 
sure  you  have  not  missed  what  you  may  be  searching  for.  Other 
comparisons  and  reflections  thereon  might  be  made;  but  it  has 
been  the  aim  only  to  point  out  the  most  significant  differences 
between  the  two  newspapers  as  labor  clearing  houses. 

Voiceless  Incompetents. — One  reflection  demands  expres- 
sion before  closing.  It  is  on  the  pitiful  inability  of  many  of  those 
seeking  work  to  say  so  in  a  way  likely  to  bring  it.  There  will  be 
dozens  of  them  together,  especially  under  the  heads  of  " clerical" 
and  "  unskilled  labor,"  that  are  worded  almost  identically,  and 
so  as  to  repel  rather  than  to  attract  inquiry  on  the  part  of  possible 
employers.  Willingness  "to  do  anything,"  which  so  many 
advertisements  proclaim,  inevitably  creates  the  impression  of 
ability  to  do  nothing  worth  mentioning.  Perhaps  some  such 
inferential  incompetents  obtain  work  through  advertising  their 
putative  incapacity;  but  it  would  seem  as  if  in  most  instances  they 
were  simply  giving  their  money  to  the  newspapers  without  possi- 
bility of  return. 


152  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


H.  G.  PAINE  153 


1 


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154 


H.  G.  PAINE 


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em 

EXTRACT  FROM  LETTER  FROM  MR.  ARTHUR  I. 

STREET, 

Of  Chicago,  Editor  of  Street's  "Pandex  of  the  News." 

I  enclose  herewith  statement  compiled  from  the  Chicago 
Tribune  and  the  Chicago  News.  The  News  carries  no  "Situa- 
tions Wanted,"  but  specializes  on  "Help  Wanted."  The  Tribune 
is  the  only  other  considerable  "want  ad"  medium  in  the  city. 

You  will  observe  that  I  have  taken  somewhat  different  periods 
from  those  upon  which  Mr.  Paine  has  been  working  in  New  York, 
but  I  made  the  change  after  going  very  carefully  into  the  statistics 
of  the  different  papers  here.  It  appears,  curiously  enough,  that 
1906  was  the  biggest  year  in  Chicago  in  classified  advertising,  also, 
in  general,  the  maximum  of  want  advertisements  appears  in  April 
and  the  minimum  in  August.  The  judgment  of  the  managers  of 
the  different  papers  was  that  you  would  get  your  best  estimate  of 
conditions  by  using  these  two  months  only,  except  in  the  case  of 
November,  1907,  when  the  effect  of  the  panic  was  first  felt. 

I  am  cautioned  against  laying  too  much  stress  upon  the  indi- 
cations of  "Situations  Wanted"  advertisements.  A  large  per- 
centage of  these  is  false,  the  columns  being  "stuffed;"  also  a 
considerable  variation  in  the  aggregate  is  made  according  to  the 
variations  in  price  asked  by  the  papers.  When  a  newspaper  wishes 
to  make  a  special  run  on  want  advertisements  it  cuts  the  price  per 
line. 

While,  of  course,  "Help  Wanted"  columns  reflect  more  the 
demand  for  labor  than  advertisements  for  situations,  they  are  a 
better  guide  to  the  extent  to  which  want  advertisements  fill  the 
function  of  a  labor  medium. 

The  manager  of  the  Chicago  News  calls  my  attention  to  the 
fact  that  in  the  ten  months  ending  October  31,  1908,  his  paper 
lost  1,564  columns  of  classified  advertising  as  compared  with  the 
totals  of  1907,  and  of  this  amount  1,510  columns  represented 
"want  ads." 

December  r,  1908. 

i57 


158  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


WANT  ADVERTISEMENTS  IN  THE  CHICAGO  "TRIBUNE1 


1902. 

1906. 

1907  to  1908. 

Second 

Second 

Second 

Sunday  in 

SUNi, 

AY  IN 

Sunday 

IN 

Class  of  Labor. 

April. 

August. 

April. 

August. 

Novem- 
ber. 

April. 

Novem- 
ber. 

Sc/i 

Situations  wanted  . 

154 

96 

158 

104 

167 

i65 

978 

Clerical 

V^lCl  J  veil 

3O8 

290 

442 

494 

25J 

347 

35 1 

2,551 

More  than  one  

13 

IO 

II 

10 

12 

6 

62 

Skilled  I 

Situations  wanted  . 

51 

38 

55 

36 

60 

"*6*S 

54 

359 

147 

Il8 

220 

132 

95 

77 

86 

875 

Unskilled 

Situations  wanted  . 

27 

l6 

65 

53 

53 

76 

59 

349 

18 

3 

33 

25 

9 

8 

13 

109 

Domestic  * 

r  Situations  wanted  . 

13 

8 

29 

18 

37 

33 

44 

182 

8 

8 

11 

i5 

8 

12 

9 

7i 

Boys  < 

Situations  wanted  . 

4 

4 

2 

2 

3 

IS 

94 

49 

123 

48 

35 

14 

29 

392 

Miscellaneous  < 

Situations  wanted  . 

56 

62 

7i 

53 

90 

48 

65 

445 

137 

no 

114 

108 

45 

64 

62 

640 

All  classes  \ 

Situations  wanted  . 

3°S 

224 

380 

264 

409 

356 

39o 

2,328 

785 

596 

954 

832 

455 

522 

556 

4,700 

1,090 

820 

*>334 

1,096 

864 

878 

946 

7,028 

WANT  ADVERTISEMENTS  IN  THE  CHICAGO  "NEWS"  "HELP 

WANTED"  ONLY 


1902. 

1906. 

1907  to  1908. 

X 

Second 

Second 

Second 

Class 

op  Labor. 

Tuesday  dj 

Tuesday  is 

Tuesday  in 

as 

April. 

1 

< 

April. 

August. 

Novem 
bei. 

April. 

Novem- 
ber. 

II 

Clerical  j 

One  

56 

5° 

96 

89 

44 

62 

52 

449 

More  than  one  

3 

2 

7 

3 

3 

2 

20 

Skilled  

324 

256 

389 

325 

131 

208 

166 

i,799 

Unskilled:  more 

12 

13 

13 

17 

5 

5 

7 

72 

95 

62 

106 

69 

43 

26 

28 

429 

142 

112 

139 

122 

56 

46 

37 

654 

Total  

632 

493 

745 

629 

282 

350 

292 

3,423 

APPENDIX  VII 


Reports  Prepared  in  the  Bureau  of  Social 
Research  of  the  New  York  School 
of  Philanthropy 

Under  the  Direction  of  Mr.  R.  C.  McCrea 


TRADE  UNIONS  AS  EMPLOYMENT  AGENCIES, 
By  Mr.  E.  E.  Pratt 

The  first  fact  of  importance  which  stands  out  from  a  general 
visiting  and  questioning  of  the  trades  unions  and  labor  organiza- 
tions in  regard  to  methods  used  in  finding  work  for  their  members, 
is,  that  their  systems,  if  indeed  they  can  be  called  systems,  are 
exceedingly  haphazard.  Although  many  of  the  unions  announce 
that  this  is  their  reason  for  existing,  closer  inquiry  reveals  the 
fact  that  they  probably  keep  an  out-of-work  list  or  book,  from 
which  men  are  sent  to  any  job  which  happens  to  be  reported  to 
the  office  of  the  union.  This  is  the  most  common  practice  and 
serves  very  well  in  a  rough  way.  In  some  cases  the  men  who 
happen  to  be  at  the  union  headquarters  are  sent  out  in  answer  to 
calls  for  help ;  in  other  cases  the  men  are  taken  in  order  from  the 
list,  or  according  to  their  fitness  for  the  position  which  is  to  be 
filled.  In  some  unions  all  the  information  given  out  in  regard  to 
employment  to  be  had  is  placed  on  a  blackboard  and  as  many 
men  as  wish  may  respond  to  the  notice.  However,  the  better 
organized  a  trade  may  be,  the  more  effectively  it  controls  a  par- 
ticular craft  or  line  of  industry,  the  more  effective  are  its  methods 

159 


l6o  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

in  trade-union  activity,  the  better  organized  is  its  system  of  pro- 
viding employment.  In  those  lines  of  trade  in  which  working 
agreements  are  in  force  with  employers,  the  employment  of  union 
men  is  usually  obligatory,  and  when  any  employer  wants  a  man, 
he  must  send  to  the  union  headquarters.  Non-union  men  have 
in  these  trades  no  chance  to  secure  a  job. 

Probably  the  most  effective  organizations  in  the  city  are  the 
Pattern-makers,  the  Newspaper  Pressmen  and  the  Building 
Trades.  The  Newspaper  Pressmen  are  100  per  cent,  organized 
and  control  the  employment  of  their  members  exclusively;  if 
work  is  short,  the  organization  puts  some  of  its  men  on  half  time, 
in  order  to  give  some  work  to  all,  and  if  any  increase  in  the  force 
is  necessary,  the  organization  fills  the  vacancies  by  promoting 
its  apprentices.  The  Pattern-makers  and  Building  Trades  are 
about  99  per  cent,  organized  and  are  very  effective;  the  former 
sends  its  members  from  city  to  city,  when  in  search  of  work,  at 
the  union's  expense;  the  latter  sends  men  to  other  locals  in  other 
cities,  at  the  expense  of  the  local  asking  for  the  help,  and  any  such 
calls  which  prove  to  be  " fakes"  are  paid  for  at  exactly  the  same 
rate  as  if  the  men  went  to  work  during  the  time  they  lost  in  response 
to  such  calls.  From  these  very  effective  systems,  the  methods  of 
the  unions  deteriorate  rapidly,  almost  in  the  same  proportion  as 
their  grasp  upon  the  trade  declines,  until  among  the  garment 
workers  (whose  organization  does  not  by  any  means  control  their 
craft),  where  over-supply  commonly  exists,  and  where  parasitic 
labor  hovers  on  the  margin  of  the  labor  supply,  the  means  taken 
to  assist  members  in  securing  employment  are  few  indeed.  The 
officers  of  most  of  the  locals  admitted  that  they  could  usually  do 
but  littie,  and  that  the  men  sought  work  wherever  and  in  whatever 
way  they  could,  and  therefore  could  furnish  no  information  as  to 
the  numbers  supplied  with  work  through  the  unions. 

Unskilled  labor  is  but  slightly  organized,  and  therefore 
could  furnish  little  data  for  this  inquiry.  It  is,  of  course,  very 
difficult  to  say  exactly  what  occupations  may  be  classed  as  un- 


E.  E.  PRATT 


161 


skilled  labor;  such  jobs  as  street-paving,  lamp-lighting,  and  the 
needle  trades  being  called  crafts  or  trades.  However,  among 
those  occupations  which  are  generally  regarded  as  unskilled,  the 
greatest  need  for  accurate  and  reliable  employment  intermediaries 
is  felt  most  keenly. 

Any  group  of  persons  attempting  to  start  an  employment  agency 
will  need,  I  believe,  in  order  to  secure  the  support  of  the  trades 
unions,  to  keep  their  hands  strictly  out  of  labor  disputes,  and 
never  furnish  or  encourage  men  to  work  in  shops  where  the  full 
union  standard  is  not  openly  or  tacitly  admitted  to  exist.  The 
unions  are,  as  a  rule,  not  at  all  opposed  to  such  a  scheme  as  I  could 
outline,  L  e.,  a  central  labor  exchange,  with  branches  perhaps  in 
many  cities.  The  well  organized  trades  usually  were  of  the  opinion 
that  no  such  agency  was  needed,  at  least  in  their  own  crafts,  but 
were  perfectly  willing  to  cooperate  in  a  friendly  manner.  Those 
trades  which  were  less  well  organized  were  many  of  them  fearful 
lest  such  an  agency  would  furnish  scab  labor  or,  if  not  actually 
strike-breaking  labor,  men  who  would  be  willing  to  work  under 
conditions  inferior  to  those  demanded  by  the  union,  which  they 
maintain  would  weaken  trade-union  organizations.  In  the  major- 
ity of  cases,  the  business  agents  or  the  secretaries  would  not  commit 
themselves  upon  the  proposition,  but  were  evidently  willing  to 
cooperate  so  long  as  such  an  agency  did  not  interfere  with  trade- 
union  activities.  The  unions  of  workers  not  so  well  organized 
(particularly  the  garment  workers  which  in  all  its  branches  controls, 
according  to  the  statements  of  its  officers,  about  eighty-five  thousand 
members  in  Greater  New  York,  United  Hebrew  Trades  50,000, 
United  Garment  Workers  35,000;  there  are  237,648  persons 
employed  in  the  clothing  and  allied  trades  in  New  York  City, 
according  to  the  report  of  the  State  Bureau  of  Factory  Inspection, 
1906)  are  willing  to  cooperate  in  any  way  with  such  an  employ- 
ment agency.  Of  course,  the  entire  non-unionized  field,  largely 
the  unskilled  workers,  does  not  come  within  the  scope  of  these 
statements,  and  would  probably  be  most  largely  benefitted  by  any 

scheme  of  philanthropic  employment  agencies. 
11 


162 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


In  a  very  few  cases,  usually  among  the  loosely  organized  trades, 
the  unions  sometimes  found  or  gave  employment  to  non-union 
members,  sometimes  with  the  pledge  of  joining  the  organization 
and  sometimes  without  any  such  avowed  intention;  these  were, 
however,  sporadic  cases,  The  better  organized  unions  find 
employment  only  for  their  own  members. 

Again,  in  the  matter  of  conditions  under  which  men  are  allowed 
by  union  rules  to  work,  those  unions  which  control  or  nearly 
control  their  trades,  allow  men  to  work  only  under  agreements 
with  employers,  or  in  recognized  union  shops;  while  in  the  less 
effectively  organized  unions  the  members  are  allowed  to  work 
wherever  they  please  so  long  as  they  receive  the  union  wages;  in 
still  other  unions,  such  as  the  garment  workers,  wherever  they  are 
able  to  secure  employment.  There  was  a  noticeable  relaxing  of 
union  restrictions  during  the  recent  industrial  depression. 

In  the  international  and  national  organizations  there  were 
usually  some  methods,  more  or  less  effectively  organized,  for 
disseminating  information  as  to  conditions  of  the  trade  in  different 
sections  of  the  country.  This  information  may  be  sent  out  through 
the  organization  periodical,  or  it  may  only  be  circulated  through 
the  correspondence  of  the  secretary.  In  some  cases  men  are  sent 
out  of  the  city,  in  others  they  are  brought  into  the  city,  and  often 
both  means  are  employed;  traveling  cards  are  provided  by  some 
unions,  while  others  simply  give  a  transfer  to  the  particular  union 
to  which  a  member  may  be  directing  his  course. 

There  are  no  exact  data  available  as  to  the  number  of  positions 
reported,  the  number  of  applicants,  or  the  number  of  positions 
actually  filled.  This  is  due  to  a  number  of  causes:  (i)  accurate 
records  are  not  kept;  (2)  the  men  return  frequently  for  work  and 
several  positions  may  be  found  for  one  man  in  the  course  of  a  year; 
(3)  men  sent  out  to  accept  the  positions  do  not  report;  (4)  out-of- 
work  lists  are  kept,  but  the  names  are  crossed  off,  whether  the  men 
receive  positions  through  the  agency  of  the  union  or  by  their  own 
efforts;  (5)  lists  of  positions  reported  vacant  are  not  kept. 


E.  E.  PRATT 


163 


The  inclination  to  move  about  from  city  to  city  varies  greatly 
in  the  different  unions,  some  unions  reporting  that  their  men  leave 
the  city  quite  readily,  while  others  report  that  their  members  very 
rarely  leave  New  York  City.  The  building  industry  exhibited  in 
this  respect  the  greatest  mobility,  while  the  garment  workers  and 
mechanical  occupations  are  the  least  mobile.  The  printers  seem 
to  stand  between  the  others. 

It  seems  to  be  the  opinion  of  the  union  leaders  with  whom  I 
have  talked,  that  the  greatest  need  for  an  employment  agency  is 
between  different  cities,  an  agency  which  would  be  able  to  say 
exactly  what  the  state  of  employment  is  in  the  various  labor  centers, 
and  to  place  men  where  they  are  needed.  Some  of  the  secretaries 
and  delegates  received  this  suggestion  with  some  degree  of  enthu- 
siasm and  were  willing  to  give  support  to  an  agency  doing  such 
work.  Most  of  the  union  officials  seemed  to  realize  their  own 
inefficiency  in  this  regard. 

The  organizations  visited  in  this  inquiry  do  not,  by  any  means, 
include  all  the  unions  in  the  city  of  New  York;  it  was  necessarily 
limited  to  those  which  had  offices,  or  headquarters,  open  during 
the  day.  The  great  numbers  that  had  periodical  meetings  only, 
could  not  be  visited.  A  list  of  the  unions  to  be  interviewed  was 
made  and  classified  according  to  localities,  in  order  to  economize 
time;  they  were  then  visited  in  order  as  the  convenience  of  their 
location  indicated ;  information  was  secured  from  the  officials  who 
were  in  the  office;  if  there  was  no  one  there,  none  was  secured 
from  that  particluar  union.  A  second  visit  was  made  to  a  union 
only  in  case  of  a  large  and  prominent  organization  whose  opinion 
was  especially  desirable  as  representing  a  large  body  of  organized 
labor,  or  a  particular  class  of  labor. 

It  seems,  then,  from  the  unions  visited  (some  thirty,  selected 
thus  quite  at  random  from  all  the  trades,  and  representing,  perhaps, 
a  very  large  percentage  of  unionized  labor  in  the  city)  that  even  for 
unionized  trades  and  occupations  an  inter-city  employment  agency 
would  be  exceedingly  useful;  that  in  the  less  strongly  organized 


1 64  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

labor  groups  within  the  city  itself,  a  general  employment  agency 
would  be  able  to  place  a  large  number  of  unemployed,  and  to  ad- 
just the  labor  supply  to  demands  in  the  labor  market  to  a  consider- 
able degree.  Its  functions  would  be,  in  some  directions,  restricted  to 
gathering  information  as  to  where  work  was  slack  and  where  there 
was  need  for  men.  It  would  be  quite  necessary,  I  believe,  to  cooper- 
ate with  the  unions  in  some  very  intimate  way,  or  their  opposition 
might  prove  a  serious  handicap. 

The  chief  facts  shown  by  this  inquiry  may  thus  be  summarized  : 

1.  That  while  employment  is  taken  care  of  reasonably  well 
within  the  trade  by  the  better  organized  and  stronger  unions,  the 
weaker  and  less  efficient  do  not  meet  the  needs  of  the  situation. 

2.  That  in  most  of  the  unions,  whether  well  or  poorly  organized, 
little  is  done  toward  the  adjustment  of  labor  supply  as  between 
different  localities.    In  this  field  the  agency  would  be  most  effective. 

3.  That  the  trade  unions  will  be  very  favorable  to  a  General 
Employment  Exchange  so  long  as  it  does  not  interfere  with  union 
activities. 


NOTES  OF  INTERVIEWS  WITH  TRADE  UNION 
OFFICIALS, 

By  Mr.  E.  E.  Pratt 

The  following  information  was  gathered  in  an  inquiry  relating 
to  the  efficiency  of  trade-union  methods  in  finding  employment 
for  their  members;  in  other  words,  the  object  was  to  find  out  how 
far  the  union  organizations  acted  as  employment  agencies.  The 
inquiry  also  aimed  to  find  out  what  the  attitude  of  the  unions 
would  be  toward  a  General  Employment  Bureau.  The  attitude 
of  the  officers  interviewed  has  not  been  put  down,  since  such 
statements  as  they  made  were  purely  of  personal  opinion  and  not 
of  trade  union  policy;  and  since  all  the  other  statements  below 


E.  E.  PRATT 


16s 


are  of  actual  facts,  the  attitude  of  the  union  can  be  better  and  more 
fairly  summarized. 

In  not  a  single  instance  was  opposition  manifest;  in  all  cases 
the  proposition  to  establish  a  General  Philanthropic  Employment 
Bureau  met  with  approval,  although  in  some  cases  a  qualified 
approval.  The  qualification  usually  had  to  do  with  a  suspected 
danger  to  trade-union  policies  or  activities,  and  in  fact  approval 
in  every  case  was  given  with  either  the  stated  or  the  implied  quali- 
fication that  such  an  agency  should  act  in  harmony,  at  least, 
with  organized  labor  and  its  program.  In  some  of  the  unions 
which  completely  controlled  their  trades,  or  were  very  efficient 
in  the  administration  of  their  employment  features,  such  an  agency 
was  held  to  be  unnecessary  in  their  particular  trades. 

In  the  following  summary,  membership  refers  to  Greater 
New  York  and  its  immediate  vicinity.  The  membership  in  the 
international  union  is  given  in  case  of  such  a  union  being  strongly 
organized.  No  assistance  is  given  to  non-members  unless  speci- 
fied. Unless  so  stated,  its  members  are  not  sent  out  of  the  city 
nor  are  any  expenses  paid. 

I.  Building  Trades  Council;  membership  115,000.  This 
organization  is  the  Central  Federation  of  the  Building  Trades  in 
Greater  New  York.  The  trade  is  very  completely  organized. 
The  council  controls  the  building  trades  in  all  their  branches  and 
only  a  very  few  non-union  contractors  are  to  be  found  in  the  city. 
Whenever  a  contractor  is  in  need  of  men  he  sends  directly  to  the 
secretary  at  the  central  office,  who  refers  the  request  to  the  par- 
ticular trade  which  will  be  able  to  send  the  men  to  fill  the  position. 
A  very  strict  system  is  maintained  as  to  the  applications  for  men 
to  take  positions,  and  for  the  employers  to  take  men  sent.  For 
example,  if  an  employer  telephones  for  a  man,  one  is  sent  to  him 
and  if,  when  that  man  has  reached  the  particular  address  given, 
another  man  is  found  at  work  and  the  man  sent  from  the  central 
office  is  not  needed,  the  latter  receives  a  day's  pay,  whether  he  has 
worked  or  not.    An  efficient  system  of  interchange  of  information 


1 66  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

between  cities  is  maintained  through  a  weekly  paper  of  the  building 
trades,  and  through  the  correspondence  of  the  secretary.  The 
transfer  of  workmen  from  city  to  city  is  accomplished  in  the  follow- 
ing manner :  If  more  men  are  wanted  in  the  building  trades  in  New 
York  City  than  can  be  supplied  within  the  city,  a  call  is  immediately 
sent  to  Philadelphia,  as  the  nearest  and  most  convenient  city,  and 
then  if  the  surplus  supply  of  men  is  not  sufficient  to  meet  the 
demand,  calls  are  sent  to  Boston,  Pittsburgh,  Chicago,  and  even 
further.  The  association  asking  for  men  pays  the  traveling  expenses. 
If,  for  example,  a  Pittsburgh  union  asks  for  50  men  from  New 
York  and  only  40  receive  work,  the  other  ten  receive  their  traveling 
expenses  and  are  paid  for  their  time  at  the  expense  of  the  organiza- 
tion which  asked  for  them.  This  precludes  any  fake  notice  of 
employment.  The  building  trades  are  very  well  organized  and 
have  one  of  the  most  efficient  systems  of  finding  employment  and 
disseminating  information  which  was  found.  The  secretary  feels 
that  the  building  trades  are  sufficiently  well  covered  in  the  matter 
of  employment  agencies. 

II.  Amalgamated  Society  of  Painters  and  Paper  Hangers  ; 
926  Third  Avenue;  646  Eighth  Avenue;  membership  10,000, 
United  States,  75,000.  This  union  controls  about  60  per  cent,  of 
the  trade  in  New  York  City.  The  men  are  allowed  to  find  work 
wherever  they  can,  providing  the  union  rate  is  enforced.  This 
association  maintains  perhaps  the  largest  meeting  rooms  and 
headquarters  in  the  city.  The  secretary  keeps  an  out-of-work 
list.  Notices  are  sent  out  by  the  general  secretary  informing 
employers  that  the  union  is  ready  to  furnish  all  help  required. 
Employers  send  word  when  necessary  and  men  are  furnished. 
The  system  is  evidently  a  very  loose  one  and  the  secretary  himself 
states  that  the  men  do  most  of  the  searching  for  work  themselves. 
The  notifications  of  help  wanted  are  sometimes  sent  to  the  secre- 
tary of  the  Building  Trades  Council,  who  then  notifies  the  union. 
About  10  per  cent,  of  the  men,  during  an  ordinary  year,  get  their 
employment  through  the  union.    Men  are  sent  to  other  cities 


E.  E.  PRATT 


167 


in  answer  to  requests  from  employers,  the  latter  paying  the  ex- 
penses. During  the  past  year  about  2,000  men  have  come  to  New 
York  from  other  cities. 

III.  The  Carpenters'  District  Council,  142  East  Fifty- 
ninth  Street;  membership,  15,000  to  18,000,  United  States, 
246,000.  This  organization  controls  about  90  per  cent,  of  the 
trade  in  Greater  New  York.  The  union  has  affiliations  in  other 
cities  and  sends  men  out  of  the  city  or  brings  them  in,  according 
to  the  demand.  If  more  work  is  needed  in  one  city  than  can  be 
supplied  from  the  membership  in  that  city,  calls  are  sent  to  nearby 
cities.  No  traveling  expenses  are  paid.  The  carpenters  publish 
a  weekly  bulletin  which  reports  the  condition  of  business  and 
employment  in  every  city  in  the  country.  This  gives  the  members 
accurate  information  as  to  where  there  is  a  probability  of  work 
so  that  they  can  go  where  the  need  is  greatest.  Members  do  this, 
however,  on  their  own  responsibility.  The  membership  is  some- 
what restricted;  the  initiation  fee  is  $20,  a  man  must  prove  his 
ability  as  a  carpenter  before  an  examining  board,  and  only  citizens 
are  accepted  for  membership.  In  Greater  New  York  the  union 
employs  seventeen  business  agents  who  are  thoroughly  conversant 
with  the  condition  of  the  trade  employment  throughout  the  city 
and  vicinity,  and  furnish  jobs  whenever  possible.  The  system 
of  finding  work  in  the  carpenters'  organization  is  rather  loose. 
A  blackboard  is  kept  at  the  central  office  on  which  the  addresses 
and  names  of  employers  wanting  men  are  posted.  The  men  come 
to  the  assembly  rooms,  which  are  large  and  where  the  members 
gather  from  day  to  day,  and  from  which  they  go  out  in  search  for 
work.  They  do  not  report  at  the  office  and  it  is  impossible  to  keep 
any  record  of  those  who  find  positions  by  this  means,  nor  is  any 
record  kept  of  the  positions  reported.  The  business  agents  also 
report  at  the  union  meetings,  held  once  a  week,  as  to  the  vacancies 
in  various  parts  of  the  city.  During  the  last  year  (September  1907 
to  September  1908)  about  3,000  men  migrated  from  New  York  City. 

IV.  Elevator  Construction  and  Mill  Operators,  154 


i68 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


East  Fifty-fourth  Street;  membership,  900.  The  secretary  keeps 
an  out-of-work  list,  which  is  filled  in  regular  order,  unless  one  man 
is  especially  ill  adapted  for  a  position.  This  organization 
thoroughly  controls  its  craft.  The  membership  of  the  union  is 
restricted  and  a  thorough  examination  before  a  board  of  examiners 
is  required  before  men  are  admitted  to  membership.  Although 
a  record  is  kept  of  the  number  finding  employment  through  the 
union,  this  record  is  very  unreliable  because  many  men  remain 
but  a  short  time  on  a  particular  job;  the  men  sent  out  by  the  office 
with  the  addresses  of  vacancies  do  not  report  whether  or  not  they 
receive  the  positions.  The  union  is  an  international  organiza- 
tion, with  affiliations  in  other  cities.  Members  are  supplied  with 
traveling  cards  in  order  to  enable  them  to  find  employment  in 
various  cities.  Expenses  are  never  paid.  Members  are  allowed 
to  work  only  under  union  agreements. 

V.  New  York  Newspaper  Pressmen,  74  Lafayette  Street; 
membership  900,  United  States,  25,000.  This  union  controls 
the  entire  trade  and  is  probably  one  of  the  best  organized  in  the  city. 
An  out-of-work  list,  properly  speaking,  is  not  kept,  for  whenever 
a  man  is  unemployed  he  is  put  immediately  at  work,  through  a 
very  efficient  regulation  of  the  members  in  their  respective  jobs, 
conducted  by  the  union.  If  work  becomes  slack,  the  men  who 
retain  their  positions  work  fewer  days  a  week  and  the  unemployed 
members  are  given  the  surplus  which  is  caused  by  this  curtailing 
of  work  on  the  part  of  the  rest.  If  the  number  of  men  required 
increases,  the  supply  is  not  enlarged  from  other  cities  but  appren- 
tices are  immediately  promoted  to  furnish  the  additional  supply  of 
workers.  The  Newspaper  Pressmen  have  worked  out  a  co-oper- 
ative system  of  employment  which  effectively  does  away  with  unem- 
ployment. 

VI.  Lithographers'  Apprentices  and  Press  Feeders,  41 
Centre  Street;  membership,  500.  An  out-of-work  list  is  kept 
and  employers  needing  men  immediately  report  vacancies  to  the 
secretary's  office.    Report  of  slack  work  is  sent  from  city  to  city, 


E.  E.  PRATT 


169 


but  no  regular  bulletin  giving  the  state  of  employment  in  the  city 
is  published.  An  initiation  fee  of  $10  is  charged  and  two  years' 
apprenticeship  is  necessary  for  membership  together  with  a 
special  examination  before  a  committee.  The  attitude  of  the 
union  is  favorable  toward  an  employment  agency. 

VII.  Typographical  Union,  known  as  "Big  Six,"  74  Lafay- 
ette Street;  membership  in  this  particular  union  7,000,  total 
membership  in  New  York  8,000,  membership  in  United  States 
45,000.  About  90  per  cent,  of  the  craft  in  New  York  City  is 
organized.  A  list  is  kept  of  men  out-of-work  and  the  union  acts 
as  its  own  employment  agency,  furnishing  work  to  its  members, 
information  of  which  is  sent  in  by  foremen  and  proprietors,  all 
shops  being  under  a  working  agreement.  The  international 
union  furnishes  information  as  to  the  state  of  employment  in  the 
different  cities.  About  100  traveling  cards,  which  indicate  the 
number  of  men  usually  out  of  work  or  traveling  between  cities, 
pass  through  the  New  York  office  every  month.  Information 
which  these  men  gather  in  their  travels  from  city  to  city,  spreads 
among  the  members  at  the  union  meetings  and  forms  the  basis 
of  their  information  as  to  the  state  of  work  in  other  cities.  No 
traveling  expenses  are  paid.  The  initiation  fee  is  $5,  otherwise 
membership  is  not  restrictive.  The  men  are  allowed  to  work  only 
in  union  shops.  There  are  two  classes  of  shops  only,  union  and 
non-union.  Union  shops  are  those  which  work  under  an  agree- 
ment with  the  union  and  under  union  conditions;  the  non-union, 
where  members  are  not  allowed  to  work,  have  no  relations  at  all 
with  the  union. 

VIII.  New  York  Stereotypers  ;  membership,  Locals  1  and 
100,  865,  membership  in  United  States  3,500.  About  90  per  cent, 
of  the  trade  in  the  city  is  controlled.  A  list  of  the  unemployed 
members  is  kept  and  foremen  and  proprietors  give  information 
as  to  any  vacancies.  The  foremen  act  as  intermediaries  between 
employers  and  the  union,  being  members  of  the  union  and  repre- 
sentatives of  the  employers.    About  10  per  cent,  of  the  membership 


170  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

left  the  city  during  the  recent  industrial  depression,  while  ordinarily 
many  more  may  come  to  New  York  City  than  leave  it.  This  is 
because  a  large  proportion  of  this  business  is  done  in  Greater  New 
York.  The  initiation  fee  is  $10,  and  an  applicant  must  pass  a 
satisfactory  examination  before  an  examining  board.  An  inter- 
national monthly  journal  is  published  which  keeps  the  locals 
in  different  cities  informed  as  to  the  conditions  of  employment. 
No  expenses  are  paid  when  members  leave  the  city. 

IX.  Lithographers'  International  Union;  membership 
1,000.  About  75  per  cent,  of  the  trade  in  the  city  is  organized. 
Employers  send  directly  to  the  secretary's  office  when  in  need  of 
help.  An  out-of-work  book  is  kept,  and  men  are  sent  to  the 
positions  in  order,  as  they  appear  on  the  book.  The  union  occa- 
sionally pays  expenses  for  men  going  out  of  town  to  secure  work, 
but  such  aid  is  rather  exceptional  and  usually  takes  the  form  of  a 
loan  from  the  union.  Transfers  are  furnished  by  the  secretary 
to  any  member  leaving  the  city.  There  are  no  restrictions  upon 
the  membership  other  than  that  a  man  must  be  employed  as  a 
lithographer  and  have  served  an  apprenticeship,  be  thoroughly 
familiar  with  the  business  and  thoroughly  competent  to  do  the 
work.  If  there  is  .any  doubt  about  his  ability,  a  test,  before  a 
committee  appointed  by  the  union,  is  required.  The  initiation 
fees  are  low,  varying  with  the  age  of  the  man.  No  records  are 
kept  of  the  number  of  positions  furnished  to  men  during  the  year. 
Very  few  have  left  town  in  search  of  employment. 

X.  Type  Press  Feeders,  13  St.  Mark's  Place;  membership 
300.  Notification  of  vacancies  is  sent  to  the  union  office  and 
members  who  happen  to  be  on  hand  are  sent  out  in  response. 
The  method  employed  is  very  crude  and  no  statistics  of  the  number 
of  vacancies  reported  or  the  number  of  men  who  found  employ- 
ment can  be  had.  The  initiation  fee  is  $3.50,  and  the  membership 
is  limited  to  men  over  18  who  have  had  three  years'  experience 
in  a  printing  establishment.  The  employment  work  here  is  very 
haphazard.  Nothing  is  done  outside  the  city  nor  are  persons 
from  outside  the  city  given  employment  within. 


E.  E.  PRATT 


I7I 


XI.  United  Garment  Workers,  International  offices,  Bible 
House,  New  York  City,  membership  35,000,  United  States  80,000. 
Each  local  has  its  separate  arrangement  for  employment  of  the 
men  and  any  calls  which  may  be  sent  to  the  main  office  are  referred 
to  the  individual  locals,  either  in  the  different  cities  or  in  the  par- 
ticular lines  of  work.  The  garment  workers,  being  an  international 
union,  are  affiliated  all  over  the  country.  They  have  succeeded  in 
unionizing  but  a  small  proportion  of  the  entire  trade,  but  that 
portion  is  well  organized  and  under  very  strict  supervision  by  the 
international  office.  According  to  the  secretary  very  few  garment 
workers  left  New  York  during  the  recent  depression:  (1)  because 
the  trade  is  so  largely  concentrated  in  New  York  City,  (2)  because 
the  Jews,  who  largely  predominate,  are  not  apt  to  move  from 
place  to  place.  The  secretary  believes  that  an  Employment 
Bureau  which  would  disseminate  information  as  to  the  state  of 
trade  in  many  different  cities,  and  would  transport  workmen  from 
one  city  to  another  would  be  very  valuable.  Men  often  will  not 
leave  New  York  City  because  so  many  of  them  have  been  dis- 
appointed by  false  reports  of  work;  if  such  an  agency  could  insure 
against  loss  through  a  move  to  another  city,  it  would  be  of  in- 
estimable help  to  the  entire  trade.  Membership  in  the  garment 
workers  is  not  restricted;  their  initiation  fee  is,  by  constitution, 
limited  to  $5,  and  in  a  large  majority  of  the  locals  it  is  less  than 
that  amount. 

XII.  The  Cutters'  Union,  41  Waverly  Place;  membership 
3,000,  United  States  7,000;  a  local  of  the  United  Garment  Workers. 
The  union  keeps  a  list  of  the  men  out-of-work  and  positions  are 
found  through  the  information  of  employers  or  members,  who 
keep  the  secretary  informed  as  to  the  state  of  employment  in  the 
different  manufacturing  establishments.  Men  are  allowed  to 
work  wherever  they  can  find  employment,  the  only  restriction 
being  that  they  shall  work  in  establishments  where  the  salary  is. 
fair  and  which  have  minimum  union  conditions.  The  Cutters' 
Union  endeavors  to  keep  the  quality  of  work  done  by  its  members 


172 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


up  to  such  a  standard  that  if  an  employer  wishes  the  best  help  he 
must  send  to  the  union  for  it.  The  secretary  is  very  favorable 
toward  any  movement  which  will  attempt  to  provide  men  with 
employment  so  long  as  it  is  not  directly  in  opposition  to  union 
policies  and  so  long  as  it  would  cooperate  with  organized  labor. 

XIII.  Shirt  Makers'  Union,  201  Broome  Street;  member- 
ship 800.  One  of  the  loosely  organized  garment  working  unions. 
Men  are  allowed  to  search  for  and  obtain  employment  wherever 
they  can.  A  list  of  places  in  which  vacancies  are  reported  is  kept 
in  the  secretary's  office;  members  who  are  out  of  work  come  to 
the  secretary  and  are  given  the  names  of  places  where  they  are  apt 
to  find  employment.  Information  as  to  where  work  may  be  found 
is  furnished  either  by  members  or  employers.  Members  are  not 
sent  out  of  the  city  to  find  employment.  The  initiation  fee  is  $1 ; 
dues  40  cents  a  month,  although  at  present  they  are  fifteen  cents  a 
week,  owing  to  the  relief  benefit  being  given.  In  1907  this  union 
had  a  membership  of  1,600  which  has  fallen  during  the  past  year 
to  800, — 500  men  and  300  women;  only  half  of  this  number  are 
working  in  what  may  be  called  union  shops. 

XIV.  Tailors'  Union,  269  Broome  Street;  membership, 
1,000;  a  local  union  of  the  United  Garment  Workers.  An  out-of- 
work  list  is  kept  by  the  secretary,  and  when  the  employers  send  in 
for  men  they  are  sent  out  in  order.  The  union  does  not  send  men 
out  of  New  York,  nor  are  expenses  of  any  kind  paid.  Just  at 
present  25  per  cent,  of  the  membership  is  idle,  but  in  spite  of  the 
depression  in  trade  membership  is  increasing.  The  union  attempts 
to  find  work  for  members  and  non- members.  Employment  may 
be  found  not  only  in  union  shops  but  also  in  open  shops,  and  this 
union,  like  others  in  the  garment  trade,  has  very  poor  control  of 
the  labor  market  in  its  particular  sphere. 

XX.  Jacket  Makers,  437  Grand  Street;  membership  400, 
and  affiliated  with  the  United  Garment  Workers,  controls  about 
40  per  cent,  of  the  trade.  Men  who  are  out  of  work  leave  their 
names  with  the  secretary  and  are  sent  to  employers  who  apply  to 


E.  E.  PRATT 


173 


the  union.  Employment  is  sometimes  furnished  for  people  out- 
side the  city  and  occasionally  men  go  outside,  which  is  not, 
however,  a  part  of  the  union's  scheme  of  finding  employment  for 
its  members.    The  initiation  fee  is  $5,  weekly  dues,  fifteen  cents. 

XXI.  United  Hebrew  Trades,  133  Eldridge  Street;  mem- 
bership 50,000.  This  is  a  federated  union  of  the  various  Hebrew 
trades,  composed  in  all  of  about  sixty  subordinate  organizations. 
Every  local  union  in  the  organization  acts  as  a  bureau  of  employ- 
ment. Any  calls  for  help  which  may  be  sent  to  the  central  office  are 
referred  to  the  particular  local  which  handles  that  trade  or  class  of 
business.  Secretaries  of  the  local  unions  receive  applications  from 
members,  and  from  employers.  Men  are  never  sent  out  of  the  city 
and  the  organization  never  brings  men  into  the  city  as  a  union  affair. 
The  restrictions  as  to  open  or  closed  shops  are  loose,  members  being 
allowed  to  work  wherever  they  can  find  a  position.  They  would 
also,  if  occasion  demanded,  get  positions  for  non-union  men. 
This  organization  is  the  large  central  body  for  the  Hebrew  Trades, 
a  sort  of  loosely  organized  federation,  which  handles  the  affairs  of 
a  large  number  of  individual  unions  in  a  rather  general  way, 
giving  advice  and  counsel  to  individual  locals.  The  United 
Hebrew  Trades  does  not  by  any  means  control  the  business,  which 
is  largely  garment  making,  clothing  manufacturing,  and,  therefore, 
is  not  very  powerful ;  neither  is  the  system  of  securing  employment 
for  members  systematized  or  efficient. 

XXII.  Knee-Pants  Makers,  133  Eldridge  Street;  member- 
ship 1,500.  A  local  affiliated  with  the  United  Hebrew  Trades. 
Men  out  of  work  apply  to  the  secretary  who  keeps  a  list  of  the 
positions  which  are  available  and  a  list  of  members  out  of  work, 
from  which  men  are  taken  in  order.  Men  are  allowed  to  work 
wherever  they  can  obtain  employment,  except  "scab"  shops  or 
where  strikes  are  in  progress.  The  uinon  is  not  strict  as  to  wages 
or  union  conditions.  This  union  is  loosely  organized,  evidently 
with  very  little  control  over  the  trade.  It  not  only  supplies  its 
members  but  also  non-members  with  positions,  in  order  to  en- 


174  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

courage  the  latter  to  become  members.  Sometimes  men  leave 
the  city;  it  has  never  happened  that  any  have  come  in  and  found 
positions  through  the  help  of  the  unions.  Membership  is  in  no 
way  restricted;  the  initiation  fee  is  $1.48  and  the  monthly  dues 
forty  cents. 

XXIII.  Children's  Jackets  (non-basted)  Organization, 
436  Grand  Street;  membership  1,200,  affiliated  with  the  United 
Hebrew  Trades.  Employers  send  to  the  secretary  for  men,  and 
are  put  in  touch  with  men  who  are  out  of  work.  The  addresses 
of  employers  who  wish  men  are  kept  on  a  blackboard  in  the 
meeting  rooms.  There  is  no  affiliation  outside  New  York  City, 
nor  are  men  sent  from  or  brought  into  the  city.  Under  ordinary 
circumstances  the  members  of  the  union  are  allowed  to  work  only 
in  closed  shops;  in  a  season  like  the  present  they  are  allowed  to 
work  wherever  they  can  get  employment,  which  is  at  best  very 
difficult.  The  initiation  fee  is  $5,  monthly  dues  thirty-five  cents. 
The  secretary  is  favorable  toward  a  General  Employment  Agency. 

XXIV.  The  International  Ladies'  Garment  Workers,  25 
Third  Avenue;  membership  New  York  City  4,000,  United  States 
8,000.  Methods  of  finding  employment  for  members  out  of  work 
are  as  follows:  (1)  at  union  meetings  the  men  tell  one  another  of 
positions  open  which  may  be  obtained;  (2)  the  chairman,  before 
calling  the  meeting  to  order,  asks  for  information  as  to  any  posi- 
tions which  are  open;  (3)  the  business  agents  employed  by  the 
union  incidentally  receive  information  of  vacancies  and  place  men; 
(4)  members  come  to  the  office  for  information  which  is  obtainable 
from  the  secretary,  employers  having  left  notice  of  any  vacancies  in 
their  shops.  The  secretary,  believes  that  employment  agencies, 
so  far  as  skilled  employment  is  concerned,  are  frauds  and  fakes. 
There  is  no  interchange  of  information  between  cities,  and  men 
are  not  sent  from  one  city  to  another. 

XXV.  Pattern  Makers'  Association,  192  Bowery;  mem- 
bership New  York  City  and  vicinity  within  a  radius  of  100  miles 
1,000,  United  States  7,000.    Men  out  of  work  sign  the  out-of-work 


E.  E.  PRATT 


175 


book;  the  employers  send  to  the  secretary,  and  a  man  is  sent  by 
the  central  office  immediately.  The  secretary  allows  no  loafing 
around  the  office,  and  when  a  man  has  once  signed  the  out-of-work 
book  he  need  go  to  the  office  no  longer,  but  when  a  position  is 
found  for  him  a  telegram  or  a  message,  at  the  expense  of  the 
Association,  is  sent  him.  The  union  belongs  to  the  National 
Brotherhood  and  is  affiliated  with  other  cities.  Transportation 
expenses  are  paid  for  men  going  to  take  jobs  in  other  cities  and 
likewise  for  men  coming  into  New  York  City.  The  union  is 
composed  of  highly  skilled  men  and  it  is  their  aim  to  control  the 
very  best  men  in  the  occupation.  A  few  years  ago  this  union  was 
discredited  by  employers,  but  it  has  since  changed  its  mode  of 
action  and  today  it  succeeds  in  entirely  controlling  the  pattern 
making  trade  by  having  a  monopoly  of  the  best  men  in  it.  If  an 
employer  wishes  a  good  pattern  maker  he  must  send  to  the  Pattern 
Makers'  Association.  The  initiation  fee  is  $16.50.  From  De- 
cember 14,  1907,  to  July  18,  1908,  the  national  association  spent 
$3,300  in  out-of-work  benefits,  at  a  rate  of  $5.50  a  week  per  un- 
employed member.  The  weekly  dues  are  at  present  $1.50,  ordin- 
arily fifty  cents.  This  union  has  one  of  the  best  organized  systems 
of  any  of  those  visited,  controlling  the  entire  trade,  furnishing 
employment  for  its  members,  on  thoroughly  friendly  terms  with 
employers,  and  discouraging  all  strikes. 

XXVI.  The  Sheet  Metal  Workers,  25  Third  Avenue; 
membership  in  New  York  City  2,500.  This  is  a  local  of  the 
International  Metal  Workers,  head  office  Kansas  City,  Mo.  This 
union  has  no  regularly  organized  method  of  employment  work, 
but  when  the  secretary  is  notified  of  positions  open,  a  notice  with 
the  address  of  the  employer  is  put  on  the  blackboard  which  is  hung 
up  in  the  union  rooms;  members  come  in  and  look  at  the  black- 
board, and  go  out  to  search  for  employment.  No  record  is  kept 
either  of  the  number  of  vacancies  reported  or  of  the  number  of 
positions  filled.  This  information  is  only  for  union  men.  Travel- 
ing cards  are  furnished  which  enable  men  to  go  from  city  to  city 
and  obtain  what  employment  there  is.    The  union  employs  four 


176  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

business  agents  who,  in  visiting  the  trade  in  different  parts  of 
Greater  New  York  and  vicinity,  keep  a  list  of  the  positions  which 
are  open  and  also  the  men  who  are  out  of  work,  and  act  as  in- 
termediaries in  finding  employment  for  those  out  of  work. 

XXVII.  Portable  Engineers,  154  East  Fifty-fourth  Street; 
membership  goo.  International  affiliations.  A  system  of  recipro- 
cal intelligence  is  maintained  between  different  cities  of  the  country 
and  business  agents  are  employed  to  look  after  the  interests  of  the 
men  and  supply  positions  for  the  unemployed.  Each  business 
agent  keeps  a  list  of  those  men  who  are  out  of  work  and  the  employ- 
ers either  speak  to  the  business  agent  or  send  word  to  the  secretary 
when  men  are  needed.  This  trade  is  very  well  organized  and  con- 
trols its  craft  in  New  York  City.  Traveling  expenses  are  not  paid 
from  city  to  city.  The  members  are  allowed  to  take  employment 
only  under  the  union  agreement. 

XXVIII.  The  International  Association  of  Machinists, 
23  Park  Row;  membership  8000,  membership  United  States 
100,000.  The  union  controls  about  90  per  cent  of  the  craft. 
The  machinists  keep  an  out-of-work  book  and  the  members  bring 
information  of  positions  vacant;  the  secretary  sends  men  out  in 
order  as  they  appear  on  the  list.  Monthly  reports  are  received 
from  various  locals  throughout  the  country,  but  there  is  no  regular 
system  of  publishing  these  reports.  During  the  last  year  about 
800  of  the  members  in  New  York  City  left  town.  There  is  no 
reliable  data  as  to  the  number  of  positions  filled  or  the  number  of 
applications  for  men  which  have  been  made.  The  members  are 
allowed  to  work  both  in  open  and  closed  shops.  A  committee 
examines  applicants  for  membership.  The  initiation  fee  is  $5. 
The  policy  of  the  union  is  not  restrictive. 

XXIX.  Firemen's  Union,  193  Bowery;  membership,  3,000. 
This  trade  is  not  very  well  organized  and  controls  only  about  half 
of  the  craft  in  New  York  City.  An  out-of-work  list  is  kept. 
Engineers  and  superintendents  send  directly  to  the  secretary,  who 


E.  E.  PRATT 


177 


sends  men  out,  in  order,  as  they  appear  on  the  list.  Members 
leave  the  city  occasionally;  transportation  expenses  are  occasion- 
ally advanced  by  the  union  as  a  loan.  An  initiation  fee  of  $5  is 
charged,  membership  being  in  no  other  way  restricted.  The 
firemen  are  not  inclined  to  travel  from  one  city  to  another.  During 
the  year  1907  between  2,800  and  2,900  men  got  positions  through 
this  office.  The  secretary  is  very  suspicious  of  any  attempt  on  the 
part  of  an  employment  agency  to  secure  work  for  its  unemployed 
because  he  feels  that  it  would  be  detrimental  to  the  interests  of  the 
union  in  that  men  would  be  supplied  with  positions  and  allowed 
to  work  at  terms  and  under  conditions  lower  than  those  of  the 
union  and  thus  disintegrate  the  union.  He  would,  however,  be 
favorable  if  active  cooperation  with  the  union  is  anticipated. 

XXX.  The  Actors'  Protective  Association,  8  Union 
Square;  membership  1,100.  This  association  is  really  an  employ- 
ment agency,  licensed  as  such  in  the  name  of  the  business  agent. 
The  union  not  only  finds  employment  for  its  members  but  also 
arranges  bills  or  theatrical  programs  for  various  entertainments 
throughout  the  city.  The  membership  extends  to  actors  through- 
out the  country.  When  persons  are  out  of  a  job  they  apply  to  the 
office,  which  supplies  them  with  work.  This  is  the  only  theatrical 
or  actors'  union.  During  the  past  year  about  six  hundred  people 
have  been  furnished  employment.  No  positions  reported  to  them 
have  gone  unfilled.  Positions  are  generally  restricted  to  those 
who  belong  to  the  association,  but  the  policy  is  a  very  liberal  one 
and  outsiders  are  taken  in  whenever  application  is  made.  The 
association  belongs  to  the  American  Federation  of  Labor. 

XXXI.  The  Pavers'  Union,  25  Third  Avenue;  membership, 
New  York  City  and  vicinity  within  a  radius  of  50  miles  3,000, 
United  States  10,000.  This  union,  which  controls  the  trade  to  a 
very  large  extent,  furnishes  employment  for  all  of  its  members; 
that  is,  whenever  a  contractor  wishes  an  employee  he  sends  to  the 
secretary  at  the  central  office,  who  sends  him  any  man  who  may  be 
out  of  work.  The  union  sends  men  out  of  New  York  City  and  finds 


178  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

work  in  the  city  for  men  from  other  places.  The  business  agents 
take  care  of  unemployment  within  a  radius  of  fifty  miles  from 
City  Hall.  All  long  distance  employment,  i.  e.,  work  that  is 
reported  from  other  cities,  is  done  through  the  central  office  in 
New  York  City.  The  work  is  considered  a  skilled  occupation  and 
cannot  be  handled  by  unskilled  individuals.  There  are  fourteen 
locals  in  New  York  City,  each  taking  care  of  its  own  unemployed 
so  far  as  possible.  There  are  four  business  agents  in  New  York 
City.  Initiation  fees  range  from  $25  to  $50,  according  to  the  work 
done.    This  system  of  employment  seems  to  be  entirely  adequate. 

XXXII.  The  Asphalt-pavers'  Union,  154  East  Fifty- 
fourth  Street;  membership  about  400.  All  available  work  is 
controlled  by  the  union,  and  all  applications  for  jobs  must  be 
made  directly  to  the  secretary,  who  controls  the  working  agree- 
ments which  are  in  force  with  all  contractors.  Membership  in 
the  union  is  not  restricted,  but  the  applicant  must  satisfy  the 
secretary  or  the  business  agent  that  he  is  qualified  to  do  the  work. 
About  50  per  cent  of  the  membership  is  Italian.  About  10  per 
cent  of  the  members  left  New  York  during  the  recent  depression. 

XXXIII.  Cigar  Makers'  Union,  192  Bowery;  local  mem- 
bership 1,500,  in  the  cigar  trade  in  the  United  States  44,000,  in 
New  York  city  6,200  to  6,300.  This  is  a  local  of  the  International 
Order  of  Cigar  Makers.  The  union  supplies  employees  not  only 
to  closed  shops  but  also  to  open  shops  if  union  scales  are  paid. 
Reports  of  vacancies  are  sent  to  the  secretary  by  employers  or  by 
members  who  may  have  been  informed  of  jobs  in  their  shop. 
Information  as  to  the  state  of  employment  in  the  various  cities  is 
sent  from  local  to  local,  but  the  system  as  a  whole  is  inefficient 
and  does  not  meet  the  needs  of  the  situation. 

XXXIV.  The  Liberty  Dawn,  145  East  Fifty-third  Street; 
membership  2,000,  in  United  States  50,000.  The  union  organiza- 
tion has  been  for  the  last  seven  years  the  only  employment  agency 
in  this  rather  miscellaneous  occupation,  hackmen  and  drivers,  who 
compose  the  union.    It  is  well  organized,  and  men  are  not  brought 


E.  E.  PRATT 


179 


to  the  city  or  sent  to  other  localities  if  those  out  of  work  can  be 
helped.  In  that  way  they  control  the  occupations  named  to  a 
large  degree,  but  the  benefits  of  the  association  are  confined  to 
union  members.  The  initiation  fee  is  $25.  For  six  years  prior 
to  and  including  1907,  up  to  May  or  June,  on  an  average  of  two 
hundred  men  a  year  have  been  provided  with  employment. 

XXXV.  Bartenders'  Union,  145  East  Fifty-third  Street; 
membership  2700,  United  States  185,000.  The  union  controls 
about  50  per  cent  of  this  trade  in  the  city  and  has  working  agree- 
ments with  most  of  the  establishments.  Men  are  allowed  to 
work  wherever  they  can  find  employment,  but  preferably  in 
establishments  under  agreement.  An  out-of-work  list  is  kept  at 
the  secreatry's  office  and  calls  for  men  are  sent  directly  to  him  and 
filled  in  order  from  the  list.  Membership  in  the  union  is  restricted. 
The  bartenders  are  not  strongly  organized  and  the  employment 
feature  is  comparatively  unimportant. 

XXXVI.  East  Side  Waiters'  Union,  12  St.  Mark's  Place; 
membership  New  York  city  500.  An  out-of-work  list  is  kept  by 
the  secretary.  The  union  furnishes  the  men  with  traveling  cards, 
and  as  the  union  is  affiliated  throughout  the  country,  men  are  often 
transferred  from  one  city  to  another.  The  union  does  not  pay 
transportation  expenses.  About  fifty  men  have  left  town  during 
the  last  year  on  account  of  the  depression. 

XXXVII.  International  Brotherhood  of  Bookbinders, 
132  Nassau  Street;  membership  2000  men,  1000  women;  inter- 
national membership  12,000.  About  80  per  cent,  of  the  book- 
binding craft  in  New  York  City  is  controlled  by  the  union.  Each 
local  acts  as  an  employment  agency  for  its  particular  city  or  its 
particular  line  of  employment.  They  keep  a  list  of  the  members 
out  of  work  and  the  first  man  on  the  list  is  sent  in  response  to  any 
reports  brought  in  as  to  vacant  positions  which  are  given  by  mem- 
bers and  employers.  Through  the  international  secretary  informa- 
tion is  sent  from  one  local  to  another,  giving  the  state  of  employment 
in  different  cities.    Members  have  not  left  town  during  the  past 


l8o  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

year  to  any  extent  owing  to  the  fact  that  employment  in  other 
cities  was  as  depressed  as  in  New  York.  No  records  are  kept  of 
the  number  of  persons  securing  employment  through  the  union, 
while  the  secretary  himself  designates  the  system  as  "  a  haphazard 
affair."  The  bookbinders  work  under  an  agreement  with  the 
employers  but  they  are  not  restricted  to  union  shops.  Member- 
ship is  not  restricted  and  any  one  employed  as  a  bookbinder  is 
eligible  for  membership.    An  initiation  fee  of  $25  is  charged. 

XXXVIII.  The  Brewers'  Union,  193  Bowery;  membership 
4500,  United  States  44,000.  About  98  per  cent  of  the  trade  is 
organized.  The  Brewers'  Union  maintains  a  regular  labor 
bureau  for  its  members  to  which  employers  may  send  and  demand 
help  at  any  time.  A  very  strict  working  agreement  is  enforced 
between  the  owners  of  establishments  and  the  Brewers'  Union, 
which  enables  the  organization  to  completely  control  all  help  used 
in  the  breweries  of  Greater  New  York.  This  union  is  affiliated 
with  the  International  Union  and  men  leave  the  city  when  there 
is  news  of  work  elsewhere,  but  expenses  are  not  paid.  Members 
are  allowed  to  work  only  in  union  shops.  The  initiation  fee  is 
Sio,  but  there  are  no  other  restrictions.  Very  few  of  the  men  are 
ever  out  of  work  on  account  of  the  complete  organization  which 
obtains  in  the  trade.  During  the  past  year  about  200  men  received 
work  directly  through  the  agency  of  the  union. 

XXXIX.  The  Beef  and  Meat  Drivers;  membership  200. 
Controls  about  80  per  cent,  of  the  trade.  The  secretary  keeps 
an  out-of-work  list  and  tries  to  secure  the  men  positions.  Noti- 
fications of  work  are  sent  to  different  cities  but  expenses  are  not 
paid.  Men  are  allowed  to  work  wherever  they  can  find  positions 
and  no  agreements  are  made  with  the  employers.  The  union  is 
evidently  rather  weak  and  depends  for  what  strength  it  has  upon 
the  disagreeable  and  difficult  nature  of  the  work. 


ATTITUDE  OF  EMPLOYERS  TOWARD  GENERAL  EM- 
PLOYMENT BUREAU, 

By  Mr.  E.  E.  Pratt 

It  is  rather  difficult  to  make  progress  with  employers  of  labor 
in  an  inquiry  as  to  their  attitude  toward  a  general  employment 
bureau,  for  several  reasons:  I  experienced  more  or  less  difficulty 
in  finding  the  officer  who  had  the  authority  to  control  the  policy 
of  hiring  men;  the  officers  in  authority  did  not,  in  many  cases, 
actually  hire  the  men  and  were  not  conversant  with  the  actual 
difficulties, — frequently  this  function  is  parcelled  out  to  the  heads 
of  departments,  the  superintendents  of  the  factories  usually  have 
charge  of  the  manual  labor.  In  the  case  of  large  corporations, 
especially,  was  the  hiring  of  the  various  classes  of  labor  divided 
among  many  officials.  The  chief  officers  were  usually  favorably 
impressed  with  such  a  plan  as  that  of  a  general  labor  exchange; 
their  part  in  the  hiring  of  men  had  to  do,  however,  only  with  a 
small  amount  of  clerical  help  in  the  New  York  offices  of  the  com- 
pany. All  the  manual  or  day  labor  is  hired  at  the  various  factories, 
and  as  it  is  usually  exclusively  in  the  hands  of  the  local  super- 
intendent such  questions  very  seldom  come  to  the  notice  of  the 
heads  of  corporations  or  companies  in  the  New  York  offices.  I 
also  found  that  firms  located  wholly  in  New  York  City,  both  offices 
and  manufacturing,  were  inclined  to  treat  such  a  proposition  much 
more  lightly  than  those  having  manufacturing  plants  located  at 
some  distance  from  the  city  or  in  the  West. 

Data  secured  in  connection  with  another  study,  The  Industrial 
Causes  of  Congestion  in  New  York  City,  which  involved  a  study 
of  factories  removing  from  New  York  City,  show  very  clearly  that 
one  of  the  chief  advantages  found  by  manufacturers  in  the  city 
is  the  large  and  abundant  labor  supply,  not  only  unskilled  but 
skilled  as  well.  In  fact,  the  firms  which  have  moved  to  New  York 
City  from  other  parts  of  the  country,  and  have  returned  here 

181 


182 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


after  trying  to  carry  on  a  manufacturing  business  in  a  smaller 
center,  are  those  which  employ  the  most  skilled  labor.  This 
would  seem  to  indicate  that  the  unskilled  labor  is  content  to  go 
to  the  small  manufacturing  centers,  while  the  most  skilled  labor, 
at  least  in  certain  lines,  finds  a  location  in  New  York  City  pre- 
eminently advantageous. 

Firms  with  plants  at  various  points  throughout  the  country, 
especially  in  the  West,  seem  very  favorable  to  such  a  Bureau. 
The  particular  conditions  existing  at  present  make  it  rather  diffi- 
cult to  approach  an  employer  on  this  point,  since  such  a  Bureau 
seems  quite  removed  from  his  present  necessity  on  account  of  the 
large  over-supply  of  labor.  Many  practical  men  are  not  in 
sympathy  with  any  scheme  the  object  of  which  is  to  furnish  the 
unemployed  with  work  or  to  assist  them  in  finding  it.  Some 
brand  such  an  enterprise  as  paternalistic;  others  say  that  it  is  an 
attempt  to  make  money  or  to  exploit  the  poor;  others  that  it  is 
unnecessary;  still  others  that  labor  which  cannot  help  itself 
should  not  be  helped.  But  most  of  the  men  interviewed  admit, 
after  the  entire  situation  is  explained,  the  opportunity  that  exists 
for  such  an  institution  to  do  great  good. 

Usually  the  firm  interviewed  stated  that,  when  the  Bureau  as 
described  had  a  definite  proposition  to  make  it  would  then  be 
considered.  Others  stated  outright  that  they  would  be  glad  to 
cooperate  with  our  Bureau  in  securing  labor.  In  very  few  cases 
did  the  proposition  to  charge  the  employer  a  fee  meet  with  approval. 
This  was  due,  perhaps,  to  the  fact  that  most  of  them  experience 
very  little  difficulty  in  getting  all  the  labor  necessary.  Repre- 
sentatives of  some  of  the  out-of-town  manufacturers  were,  however, 
favorable  to  such  a  scheme  of  fees  for  services  rendered.  That  is, 
manufacturers  believe  that  if  such  an  employment  agency  should 
relieve  them  of  the  necessity  of  advertising,  and  furnish  them  with 
help  with  speed  and  expedition,  thus  saving  them  the  cost  of 
advertising  and  delay,  they  would  be  willing  to  turn  a  part  of  this 
saving  over  to  a  Bureau  in  the  shape  of  a  fee. 


E.  E.  PRATT 


183 


A  tentative  proposition  that  an  agreement  should  be  entered 
into  between  the  various  manufacturers  and  the  Employment 
Agency  to  keep  the  employers  supplied  with  men  at  a  certain  rate 
per  hundred  of  employees,  met  with  approval  on  two  or  three 
occasions  when  it  was  proposed. 

I  found  it  very  difficult  to  get  at  the  proper  railroad  official 
who  was  at  the  same  time  sufficiently  acquainted  with  the  details 
to  give  any  advice,  and  also  had  authority  enough  to  give  his 
opinion  weight.  The  actual  employing  of  the  very  unskilled 
labor  is  usually  in  the  hands  of  the  division  authorities,  either  the 
division  superintendent  or  engineer.  At  present  the  lowest 
grades  of  help  are  managed  on  the  padrone  system.  That  is, 
the  labor  is  supplied  by  agents  who  not  only  manage  and  control 
the  laborers  while  at  work,  but  also  keep  stores  and  boarding 
houses  and  supply  native  foremen.  Large  numbers  of  these  men 
are  Italians  who  work  for  $1  or  $1.25  a  day  and  live  in  box  cars 
which  are  provided  free  of  charge.  They  buy  provisions  from 
the  men  who  hire  them  (the  agents  or  padrones)  at  a  cost  of  from 
$1  to  $1.50  a  week.  Shoes  and  other  clothing  are  sold  to  them 
at  very  low  prices.  One  superintendent  with  whom  I  talked,  a 
man  thoroughly  in  sympathy  with  this  proposition,  and  one  who 
says  he  has  thought  of  a  similar  scheme  for  some  time,  pointed  out 
the  difficulties  of  supplying  the  railroads  with  the  lower  classes  of 
labor.  He  spoke  of  the  necessity  for  keeping  to  a  single  nationality 
on  a  particular  job,  the  impossibility  of  mixing,  for  example, 
the  Sicilian  and  the  Neapolitan.  But  he  declared  that  at  any  time 
an  Employment  Bureau  such  as  I  described  could  bring  him  as 
good  a  proposition  as  the  Italian  contractors,  he  would  be  willing 
to  come  to  an  agreement.  Certain  unskilled  labor  around  the  car 
yards,  cleaning  cars  and  various  other  low  class  jobs,  could  be 
turned  over  almost  immediately  to  such  an  agency.  These  positions 
are  very  irregular  and  are  held  largely  by  Slavs.  In  one  of  the  rail- 
roads there  is  suggestive  evidence  that  the  padrone  system  is  in  full 
operation,  and  that  the  officials  in  charge  of  the  hiring  of  men  hold 


184  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

a  rather  lucrative  position  in  the  matter.  The  officer  interviewed 
was  reluctant  to  give  any  information,  but  from  the  little  he  did 
say  it  was  evident  that  the  whole  thing  was  managed  through  an 
outside  agency  which  supplied  all  labor  and  that  the  railroad  officials 
had  all  their  dealings  through  this  one  man.  They  were  unwilling 
to  give  out  his  name  or  allow  me  to  see  him.  Another  railroad 
official  raised  the  point,  when  I  mentioned  a  large  private  agency 
in  the  West,  which  has  been  very  successful,  that  the  western  roads 
were  in  constant  need  of  men  but  that  the  eastern  roads,  especially 
those  entering  New  York  City,  were  never  in  need  of  workmen  and 
that  usually  they  could  get  all  the  labor  they  need.  One  man  anti- 
cipated a  little  difficulty  in  the  near  future  if  railroad  improvements 
should  commence,  because  large  numbers  of  Italians  have  gone 
back  to  Italy,  but  on  the  other  hand  all  that  is  necessary  to  get 
them  again,  and  many  more  with  them,  is  to  give  notice  to  the 
agents  who  handle  this  labor,  and  back  they  come.  This  seems  to 
be  a  very  neat  device  for  getting  around  the  contract  labor  law. 

If  then  the  proposed  agency  wishes  to  deal  with  the  unskilled 
grades  of  labor,  it  will  be  necessary  to  organize  in  such  a  manner, 
and  with  a  system  so  well  worked  out,  that  it  can  compete  success- 
fully with  the  padrone  system.  Italian  officials  and  assistants  will 
be  indispensable,  and  the  system  will  have  to  correspond  closely  to 
the  present  methods  of  the  padrone.  It  seems  doubtful,  also, 
whether  the  eastern  railroads  will  be  willing  to  pay  for  this  service, 
since  they  are  evidently  not  paying  for  it  now  and  are  well  satisfied. 
Very  few  opportunities  are  open,  however,  in  the  general  railroad- 
ing business  outside  of  this  general  unskilled  manual  labor. 

Coming  to  manufacturing  establishments,  The  Standard 
Oil  Company,  with  the  free  advertising  which  it  constantly  receives, 
declares  that  it  can  at  all  times  get  more  labor  than  it  needs.  The 
general  employment  agent  of  that  corporation  was,  however,  very 
favorable  and  his  long  and  large  experience  makes  him  a  valuable 
ally.  The  labor  in  the  plants  is  hired  by  the  various  superinten- 
dents and  men  are  always  referred  to  them  for  positions.  Usually 


E.  E.  PRATT 


185 


there  is  an  over-supply.  Other  large,  well-known  companies 
probably  have  the  same  experience.  With  the  less  known  estab- 
lishments and  those  located  at  a  distance  from  New  York  City, 
there  seems  to  be  very  little  doubt  that  a  General  Employment 
Agency  would  be  effective  and  could  with  success  charge  the 
employers  a  fee.  In  one  of  two  cases  New  York  offices  had  been 
asked,  during  the  busy  season,  to  furnish  as  many  as  300  men  to  be 
sent  to  out-of-town  factories,  and  the  labor  could  not  be  found. 
Many  out-of-town  employers  make  special  arrangements  for  the 
transporting  of  prospective  employees.  Some  will  furnish  tickets 
and  then  take  the  cost  out  of  the  employee's  wages.  Others 
simply  withhold  the  sum  of  the  transportation  expense  until  the 
man  has  been  in  their  employ  long  enough  to  insure  reasonable 
permanency.  The  employers  then  pay  for  the  transportation. 
With  employers  doing  these  things  it  ought  to  be  very  easy  to 
strike  satisfactory  arrangements. 

Perhaps  a  little  more  emphasis  can  be  put  upon  the  saving  in 
advertising  that  a  firm  could  effect  through  a  general  labor  exchange, 
a  part  of  which  might  be  paid  in  fees  to  the  Bureau.  This  adver- 
tising, according  to  one  of  the  manufacturers'  associations,  some- 
times amounts  to  a  considerable  item,  and,  furthermore,  employers 
often  find  it  necessary  to  send  to  quite  distant  localities  for  their 
labor  supply,  in  which  case  it  is  usually  necessary  to  forward 
traveling  expenses. 

The  most  important  results  of  this  inquiry  then  may  thus  be 
summarized : 

1.  That  employers  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  New  York 
City  do  not  find  it  difficult  to  secure  all  the  labor  necessary. 

2.  That  employers  outside  of  the  largest  cities  (generalizing 
from  New  York's  experience)  do  find  it  difficult  to  get  labor,  that 
they  are  at  some  expense  to  advertise  and  to  furnish  transportation 
expenses,  and  at  some  disadvantage  from  inability  to  look  a  man 
over  and  determine  his  qualifications ;  and  that  here  a  labor  agency 
could  find  a  wide  field  for  the  surplus  of  the  city  markets. 


i86 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


3.  That  the  employers  would  receive  such  a  proposition  favor- 
ably and  in  a  spirit  of  cooperation,  even  with  a  possibility  of  its 
being  made  a  business  proposition  when  it  has  once  proved  its 
real  utility. 

After  considering  the  elements  involved, — the  labor  supply,  as 
represented  by  the  trade  unions  and  the  unemployed,  and  the 
employers,  the  whole  success  of  the  enterprise  will  rest,  in  my 
opinion,  on  the  coordination  and  cooperation  of  the  factors,  and, 
above  all,  in  the  most  efficient,  business-like,  and  far  reaching 
organization. 


NEW  YORK  MUNICIPAL  LODGING  HOUSE  AND  THE 
UNEMPLOYED  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY 

By  Mr.  E.  E.  Pratt 

The  following  facts  and  opinions  were  gathered  and  formu- 
lated in  order  to  find  out  from  those  actively  engaged  in  the  work 
of  handling  the  unemployed,  what  the  character  of  the  men  who 
become  the  objects  of  charity  in  New  York  City  really  is,  whether 
they  would  be  benefitted  by  a  general  employment  agency  or  labor 
exchange,  and  if  such  an  agency  would  in  any  way  alleviate  unem- 
ployment as  represented  in  the  lodgers  at  the  Municipal  Lodging 
House.  An  endeavor  also  was  made  to  find  out  through  the 
Municipal  Lodging  House  what  is  the  status  of  the  unemployed, 
at  least  in  the  men  applying  there. 

Mr.  Yorke,  the  superintendent  of  the  Municipal  Lodging 
House,  when  interviewed,  was  unwilling  that  any  of  his  remarks 
should  go  beyond  the  immediate  experience  which  he  has  had  at 
the  New  York  lodging  house  or  be  applied  to  any  other  class  of 
unemployed  than  those  whom  he  has  himself  met  in  their  applica- 
tion to  the  city  for  shelter. 

Unemployment  in  New  York  City  is  due  to  the  congregation 


E.  E.  PRATT 


187 


here,  especially  during  any  time  of  depression,  of  the  unemployed 
from  other  cities  and  the  surrounding  country.  This  is  due  in 
part  only  to  the  great  crowd  of  foreigners  always  drifting  in,  since 
the  men  who  apply  to  the  lodging  house  for  shelter  are,  in  the 
majority  of  cases,  Americans.  The  propositions  of  the  principal 
nationalities,  as  given  in  the  accompanying  statistics,  will  show 
that  the  native  Americans  largely  predominate.  (See  statistical 
tables  attached.) 

A  leading  cause  for  the  concentration  of  the  unemployed  in 
New  York  City  is  the  generally  existing  opinion,  perhaps  not 
unjustified,  that  if  there  is  work  anywhere  it  will  be  in  the  metropo- 
lis. Men  who  have  tramped  from  city  to  city,  from  state  to  state 
hear  of  the  great  railways,  subways,  tunnels  and  buildings  which 
New  York  is  building,  and  think  there  should  be  work  enough  here 
and  to  spare.  They  even  spend  their  last  cent  to  come,  and  when 
no  employment  is  forthcoming  and  they  have  walked  the  streets 
day  after  day  until  their  money  is  spent,  they  turn  up  at  the  Munici- 
pal Lodging  House. 

When  a  man  without  employment  gets  "down  and  out"  in 
New  York  City,  it  is  pretty  hard  for  him  to  get  to  any  other  place 
where  he  can  find  a  job  if  there  is  an  oversupply  of  labor  in  the 
city.  There  are  often  notices  of  men  wanted  in  the  West  or  in  the 
North,  or  down  South,  but  the  railroad  fare  may  be  $10,  it  may  be 
$25,  and  even  then  a  man  has  no  guarantee  that  he  may  not  be 
spending  his  money  on  a  fool's  errand.  If  a  man  can  secure  a 
job  in  the  North,  in  a  cold  climate,  he  cannot  go  unless  he  is 
properly  clothed  and  shod,  which  many  of  the  lodging  house 
visitors  are  not.  If  the  position  offered  is  in  the  South,  usually 
poor  clothing  is  no  excuse.  It  is  very  difficult  to  get  a  man  out  of 
New  York  City  after  he  has  once  become  entirely  dependent. 

It  is  in  this  respect  that  a  generally  organized  employment 
bureau,  with  sub-stations  throughout  the  country  from  and  to 
which  laborers  might  be  sent,  would  greatly  relieve  the  situation 
and  assist  in  adjusting  the  supply  of  labor  throughout  the  country. 


1 88  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

Of  course  the  men  who  generally  go  to  the  Municipal  Lodging 
House  would  be  unable  to  pay  a  fee  and  it  would  be  quite  impossible 
for  them  to  raise  money  for  transportation  or  clothes.  The 
supplying,  then,  of  these  latter  things  would  be  quite  as  important 
as  finding  the  job  at  some  distant  point.  Could  these  men  be  ex- 
pected ever  to  refund  the  money  spent  in  their  behalf  ?  Mr.  Yorke 
believes  that  in  a  large  number  of  cases  they  could.  In  this  matter 
he  speaks  from  experience,  not  in  loaning  large  amounts,  but  small 
sums  which  he  declares  are  invariably  returned  to  him  after  the 
man  has  been  working  a  few  weeks.  These  loans  are  not  made 
promiscuously,  but  advanced  to  men  who  have  found  jobs  and 
haven't  money  enough  to  pay  for  carfare,  room-rent  and  meals  in 
the  meantime. 

It  is  just  at  this  point  that  a  very  interesting  part  of  Mr.  Yorke' s 
work  for  the  unemployed  comes  in.  A  lodger  finds  a  job,  but  he  is 
" broke"  and  pay  day  is  usually  two  weeks  in  the  future.  What  in 
the  meantime?  The  man  must  have  food  and  a  place  to  sleep. 
When  such  a  situation  arises,  Mr.  Yorke  allows  the  man  to  stay  at 
the  lodging  house  and  get  his  meals  there,  provides  him  with  a 
little  lunch,  and  advances  him  carfare.  Then  for  two  weeks  he 
is  in  the  city's  home,  but  in  these  two  weeks  he  is  put  on  his  feet. 
A  case  in  point  happened  as  I  sat  in  the  office.  A  woman  who  had 
lodged  at  the  house  for  several  nights  came  in  and  reported  that 
she  had  secured  a  position  as  laundress  at  $20  a  month,  but  that 
the  work  didn't  begin  until  the  following  Tuesday  (this  was  Friday) 
and  she  would  not  be  paid  until  a  week  from  that  time.  What  was 
she  to  do  meanwhile  ?  The  superintendent  told  her  that  she  might 
remain  at  the  lodging  house  until  she  drew  her  first  pay  and,  just 
here,  he  points  out,  there  will  be  a  weakness  in  any  scheme  for  the 
employment  of  those  out  of  work.  He  suggests  that  this  be  taken 
into  consideration  in  the  formation  of  a  plan  for  a  general  Employ- 
ment Bureau. 

Many  of  the  men  appearing  at  the  Municipal  Lodging  House 
have  cards  from  employment  agencies  and  evidently  have  had 


E.  E.  PRATT 


dealings  with  them.  Some  of  them,  Mr.  Yorke  believes,  are  doing 
a  good  business,  but  on  a  small  scale;  others  are  totally  bad.  He 
gave  a  recent  instance  of  men  sent  north  on  railroad  work.  Many 
men  went,  but  some  who  have  drifted  back  to  the  Municipal 
Lodging  House  report  conditions  inferior  to  those  in  which  a  horse 
could  live.    Too  often  this  is  the  case  with  jobs  out  of  the  city. 

Many  of  the  men  do  not  want  steady  jobs,  while  others  who  do 
want  jobs,  don't  know  where  to  go  and  are  unable  to  go  very  great 
distances  for  lack  of  carfare.  Many  men  keep  watch  constantly 
of  the  want  columns  in  the  newspapers,  but  their  experiences  are 
always  the  same, — someone  has  been  there  ahead  of  them  and 
they  became  discouraged  and  disgusted  with  newspaper  advertise- 
ments. 

Most  of  the  lodgers  in  the  house  are  unskilled ;  between  30  and 
40  per  cent,  of  those  lodged  report  as  skilled;  usually  less  than  10 
per  cent,  return  themselves  as  clerical. 

From  a  casual  inspection  of  the  record  books  of  the  lodging 
house,  it  is  evident  that  the  men  often  change  their  occupations. 
One  of  the  questions  asked  each  man  is,  what  is  your  occupation  ? 
After  answering,  he  is  asked  where  and  in  what  capacity  he  was 
last  employed.  In  many  cases  a  mechanic  skilled  in  some  trade 
would  return  another  occupation  as  that  last  worked  at.  This 
occupational  mobility  did  not  appear  to  be  great,  but  that  some 
existed  there  can  be  do  doubt.  The  applicant  is  asked  the  name 
of  his  last  employer,  who  serves  as  a  reference.  A  blank  (see 
page  190)  is  then  sent  to  the  lodger's  former  employer.  The 
answers  on  these  blanks  bring  when  filled  out  some  very  interesting 
information  upon  the  character  of  the  applicants. 

The  accompanying  statistics  show  that  a  very  small  proportion 
of  the  lodgers  give  no  references.  In  some  cases  this  means  that 
the  lodger  is  actually  unable  to  do  so,  that  he  is  an  old  man,  or,  in 
some  cases,  an  applicant  for  the  almshouse,  when  references  are 
not  required.  There  is,  however,  no  doubt  that  a  large  proportion 
of  the  men  are  unwilling  to  have  it  found  out  that  they  have  found 
it  necessary  to  ask  for  a  night's  lodging. 


no.  28000 

DEPARTMENT  OF  PUBLIC  CHARITIES 

of  The  city  of  New  York. 


MUNICIPAL  LODGING  HOUSE. 
3S8  FIRST  AVENUE. 

NEW  yrteK  tyv 

To    -  -  


Dear. —  ~. 

M   ~   

Nationality:  .  Age  „.,„,.  

has  applied  to  this  department  for  assistance  in  his  efforts  to  secure  employment, 

and  states  that  he  was  employed  by  you  in  the  capacity  of   

and  refers  to  you  for  information  as  to  his  character  and  ability* 

With  the  assurance  that  it  will  be  received  as  confidential,  will  you  please  to 
furnish,  as  soon  as  possible,  the  information  asked  for  in  the  following  questions, 
together  with  such  other  facts  In  your  possession  concerning  this  applicant  as 
should  be  of  service  in  defermining  the  question  of  his  worthiness. 

Your  kind  and  early  compliance  with  this  request  will  facilitate  the  work  of 
the  department,  and  oblige, 

Respectfully  yours, 

WM.  a  YORKE, 

6U0CAINXCMOCNT. 


 „  _   claims  to  have  left  your  employ 

about    ago. 

Is  this  statement  true?       „   _  — „ 

Was  his  work  satisfactory?   _  _  —   

When  did  he  leave  your  employ     

Why  did  he  leave  your  employ?-    -   -  

Would  you  re-employ  him?    - 

Is  he  addicted  to  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquor?-   ~  -~    

Signature  of  Reference,  —  —   

Date,  .....  „   190 

Pleate  10  give  additional  information  on  the  other  »ide  of  thi»  sheet. 

190 


E.  E.  PRATT 


IQl 


Especially  during  the  past  year  (September,  1907,  to  September, 
1908),  a  very  large  number  of  decent  men  have  applied  at  the  lodg- 
ing house,  and  their  character  and  appearance  have  been  exception- 
ally good.  There  is,  of  course,  more  or  less  falsification  in  the 
references  and  returns  which  the  men  make,  but  Mr.  Yorke 
believes, — and  what  evidence  there  is  bears  him  out, — that  the 
large  majority  give  fairly  truthful  accounts  of  themselves,  especially 
as  regards  age,  nationality,  occupation  and  length  of  time  in  the 
city.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  results  are  approximately 
accurate.  The  largest  opportunity,  and  perhaps  the  largest 
amount,  of  falsification  is  in  regard  to  references,  although  this 
item  is  not  taken  as  a  reference,  the  man  being  asked  "who  was 
your  last  employer?"  The  "dead  heads"  or  the  "old  timers"  at 
the  business  have  a  story  so  well  made,  that  they  are  able  to  tell  a 
false  one  on  entering  in  the  evening  and  the  same  story  again  the 
next  morning  after  a  bath  and  a  good  night's  sleep. 

In  the  statistics  regarding  references,  it  will  be  noted  that  very 
few  are  found  to  be  actually  bad,  while  those  classified  under 
"doubtful  identification,"  "references  not  found,"  and  "unknown 
to  references,"  may,  many  of  them,  have  been  due  to  such  causes, 
as  a  wrong  street  number,  carelessness  on  the  part  of  the  employer 
in  answering,  or  perhaps  confusion  of  names  by  the  applicant  or 
in  the  records  kept  by  the  employer, — particularly  in  smaller 
establishments.  "Previously  investigated"  were  those  references 
given  by  lodgers  appearing  on  the  record  for  the  second  or  third 
night,  and  therefore  included  under  other  heads.  "Pending" 
includes  all  from  whom  no  reply  has  been  received. 

As  I  sat  in  the  office,  the  mail  came  and  we  opened  several 
letters  at  random,  answers  from  references.  A  number  of  em- 
ployers wrote  that  they  had  discharged  the  particular  individual  in 
question  on  account  of  slack  work  and  that  they  would  re- employ 
the  man  if  conditions  allowed.  No  unfavorable  letters  happened 
to  be  opened. 


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200  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

These  tables  show  that  the  native  residents,  in  spite  of  varia- 
tions due  to  depressions  and  other  causes  unknown,  are  always 
in  the  largest  proportion,  in  some  years  more  than  half;  that  the 
Irish,  German,  and  English  follow  in  order  while  other  nationalities 
are  comparatively  insignificant.  The  very  small  number  of 
Russians  and  Italians,  as  representing  the  new  stream  of  immi- 
grants into  this  country,  indicate  that  the  unemployed  among 
them  are  taken  care  of  by  other  agencies  and  that  the  national 
groups  have  not  yet  begun  to  break  down.  These  figures  may 
also  be  taken  to  indicate,  to  a  small  degree,  that  vagrancy  is  not 
so  prevalent  among  our  newly  arrived  immigrants.  Taken  as  a 
whole,  the  figures  seem  to  show  that  in  the  experience  of  the 
Municipal  Lodging  House  the  foreign  element  is  not  the  greatest 
among  the  unemployed  or  at  least  among  the  habitually  unem- 
ployed. 

The  statistics  showing  the  time  within  the  city  are  quite  sur- 
prising when  one  remembers  that  the  lodgers  who  have  been  in 
the  city  for  five  years  or  who  are  natives  of  New  York,  usually 
form  considerably  over  one-half  of  the  total,  while  the  floating 
population,  or  those  who  have  been  in  the  city  less  than  six  months, 
are  in  small  proportion  but  a  proportion  which  increases  during  a 
period  of  depression,  the  meaning  of  which  is  that  the  unemployed 
in  New  York  city  is  largely  augmented  during  a  great  period  of 
unemployment  by  those  from  other  cities  who  are  out  of  work 
and  who  think  that  employment  can  be  found  here  if  it  can  be 
found  anywhere.  These  statistics  emphasize  the  fact  brought 
out  elsewhere  that  the  unemployed  congregate  in  the  large  cities 
during  periods  of  depression. 

The  age  statistics  are  not  sufficiently  refined  to  warrant  any 
conclusions.  There  is,  however,  a  very  appreciable  percentage 
of  lodgers  over  50  years  of  age  in  which  class  are  usually  to  be 
put  those  individuals  who  are  unemployed  through  invalidity 
and  old  age,  and  are  really  hopeless  paupers. 

The  tables  concerned  with  the  character  of  the  lodgers  should 


HON.  ROBERT  W.  HEBBERD 


201 


be  interpreted  in  view  of  the  fact  presented  above  in  explanation 
of  the  different  items  named. 

There  is  a  vast  amount  of  material  in  the  books  of  this  institu- 
tion which  could  be  utilized  to  great  advantage  by  one  interested 
in  the  lodging  house  habituate,  or  the  question  of  the  unempolyed. 
For  example,  each  man  states  his  regular  occupation  or  his  trade 
and  then  gives  the  particular  job  at  which  he  was  last  employed; 
records  which,  although  difficult  to  work  up,  would  furnish  valuable 
statistics  on  occupational  mobility. 


CHARACTER  OF  LODGERS  IN  MUNICIPAL  LODGING 

HOUSE 

An  Interview  with  Hon.  Robert  W.  Hebberd 

Mr.  Hebberd,  Commissioner  of  Charities,  declares  that  the 
men  who  visit  the  Municipal  Lodging  House,  with  a  few  excep- 
tions, are  habitually  vagrant  and  chronically  unemployed,  and 
that  most  of  them  would  not  work  if  given  a  chance.  This  state- 
ment he  admits  is  not  so  true  now,  or  in  the  present  year,  as  it  has 
been  in  years  of  greater  prosperity;  but  nevertheless  the  greater 
proportion  of  them  are  men  who  are  in  the  lower  ranks  of  the 
working  classes  who  at  any  time  are  just  on  the  edge  of  unemploy- 
ment and  about  to  be  thrown  off  at  the  first  sign  of  a  depression; 
in  other  words  they  are  the  inefficient  and  the  casual. 

It  is  not  this  class  of  men  that  will  be  aided,  Mr.  Hebberd 
believes,  by  a  general  employment  bureau,  because  they  are 
vagrants  and  in  most  cases  so  inefficient  as  to  be  undesirable  in 
any  position. 

The  Department  of  Public  Charities  in  conjunction  with  the 
Street  Cleaning  Department  is  about  to  put  in  operation  a  scheme, 
novel  in  many  respects,  to  tide  the  unemployed  over  periods  of 
idleness.  A  trial  of  the  scheme  soon  to  be  made,  involves  taking 
a  number  of  men  from  the  Municipal  Lodging  House  to  Black- 


202  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

well's  Island  to  break  stone;  they  are  to  work  there  for  a  half  day, 
return  to  the  lodging  house  for  a  good  dinner,  and  during  the 
afternoon  they  are  to  be  free  to  go  where  they  wish, — theoretically 
to  search  for  work.  Another  part  of  the  plan  contemplates  putting 
a  large  number  of  these  men  at  work  on  the  streets,  but  at  light 
work,  merely  going  about  with  a  stick  and  a  bag,  picking  up  paperst 
After  a  man  has  worked  all  the  morning,  he  goes  to  the  Street 
Cleaning  Department,  presents  the  evidence  of  his  labor,  and 
receives  a  card  which  entitles  him  to  a  dinner  at  the  Municipal 
Lodging  House.  The  commissioner  is  not  sanguine  of  the  success 
of  this  scheme  because  of  the  character  of  the  men.  No  com- 
pulsion is  to  be  exercised,  the  men  will  be  asked  to  volunteer  for 
the  work  and  if  they  refuse  it  will  make  no  difference  in  their 
treatment. 

SUMMARY 

In  summing  up  the  results  of  this  injury  it  appears  that  the 
largest  proportion  of  the  lodgers  in  the  Municipal  Lodging  House 
are  natives  of  this  country,  that  their  condition  is  due  largely  to 
inefficiency  and  in  a  considerable  degree  to  the  use  of  intoxicants; 
but  that  they  are  on  the  whole  well  intentioned  and  that  the  proper 
adjustment  might  possibly  be  made  through  an  employment 
bureau  by  which  many  of  them  could  be  put  at  work  and  be 
enabled  to  earn  enough  for  their  own  support. 


REPORT  ON  THE  MOBILITY  OF  WORKERS, 
By  Mr.  R.  Brodsky 

The  movement  of  workers  from  place  to  place  and  from  occupa- 
tion to  occupation  is  a  matter  upon  which  one  must  trust  for 
evidence  rather  to  general  observation  than  to  definite  statistical 
data.  Such  statistical  information  as  is  available  for  the  United 
States  covers,  as  a  rule,  so  limited  a  number  of  cases  that  generaliza- 
tions based  on  it  are  quite  as  likely  to  be  misleading  as  to  be  really 


R.  BRODSKY 


203 


informing.  Evidence  of  this  nature  may,  however,  have  a  limited 
value  by  way  of  suggesting  possibilities  that  have  been  neglected 
by  general  observers,  and  at  the  same  time  of  affording  a  means  of 
verifying  or  of  invalidating  the  results  of  general  qualitative 
observation.  With  this  possibility  in  mind,  an  examination  as 
extended  as  time  limitations  would  allow,  has  been  made  of  the 
figures  presented  in  the  United  States  Census  Reports,  reports  of 
state  labor  bureaus  and  free  public  employment  offices,  and  of 
some  special  investigations  bearing  on  the  following  points : 

I.  Internal  Migration  (i.  e.,  from  place  to  place). 

1.  The  situation. 

(a)  Short  distance  movement. 

(b)  Long  distance  movement. 

2.  Factors  encouraging  movement. 

(a)  Propertylessness  (particularly  with  reference  to 
ownership  of  homes). 

(b)  Regional  and  occupational  variations.  Youth 
and  unmarried  condition.  Occupational  varia- 
tions. 

II.  Occupational  Movement  (*.  e.}  movement  from  occupation 
to  occupation). 

1.  Influences  compelling  or  strongly  contributing  to 

occupational  movement. 

(a)  Idleness — seasonal  or  otherwise. 

(b)  Sickness,  disease  and  accident. 

2.  Duration  of  service  in  given  occupations. 

I.  INTERNAL  MIGRATION 
a.  Short  Distance  Movement.  There  is  a  large  migration 
of  population  within  limited  areas,  the  main  causes  of  which  are 
economic.  This  migration  is  made  up  of  a  movement  from  rural 
areas  to  neighboring  towns  and  cities,  and  between  neighboring 
states.  This  situation  is  general,  but  it  is  more  marked  the  closer 
the  proximity  to  industrial  centers.  Boston,  for  instance,  receives 
approximately  10  per  cent,  of  the  addition  to  its  population  from 


204 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


other  towns  of  Massachusetts.  The  state  of  Massachusetts 
receives  the  largest  proportion  of  native  additions  to  its  population 
from  surrounding  states,  14.3  per  cent,  coming  in  the  aggregate 
from  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  New  York,  Connecticut  and 
Rhode  Island,  no  other  state  contributing  as  much  as  1  per  cent. 
Another  illustration  of  this  fact  is  to  be  found  in  the  experience  of 
the  Massachusetts  Free  Employment  Bureau  which,  during  its 
first  five  months  of  operation,  received  20,454  applications  for 
places  from  inhabitants  of  Boston  proper,  5,601  from  139  other 
Massachusetts  cities  and  towns,  50  from  other  New  England 
states,  5  from  New  York  and  60  from  all  other  states  and  countries. 

b.  Long  Distance  Movement.  The  distance  travelled  by 
migrants  varies  with  the  degree  of  industrial  and  commercial 
development  of  the  city  or  section  to  which  they  go.  The  states 
having  the  most  developed  and  most  varied  industries  receive  from 
other  states  the  greatest  number  of  migrants.  Manufacturing 
and  commercial  states  draw  from  agricultural  states.  In  the 
interchange  of  people  between  states  of  these  two  types,  there  is 
always  a  large  margin  or  balance  of  migrants  in  favor  of  the  more 
industrial  states.  In  the  interchange  between  states  of  the  same 
economic  type  the  difference  is  small  in  either  direction,  e.  g.: 

New  York  receives  from  Iowa   53*878 

New  York  gives  to  Iowa   4>35& 

Difference   49, 520   Ratio  13  to  1 

New  York  receives  from  Wisconsin   58,520 

New  York  gives  to  Wisconsin   6,331 

Difference   52,007    Ratio  9  to  1 

New  York  receives  from  Pennsylvania  . .  .114,440 
New  York  gives  to  Pennsylvania  110,868 

Difference   3,572    Ratio  28  to  27 

New  York  receives  from  California   554oo 

New  York  gives  to  California   4>544 

Difference   856    Ratio  6  to  5 


R.  BRODSKY 


205 


The  total  number  of  migrants  passing  between  New  York  and 
Pennsylvania  aggregates  225,308  persons;  between  New  York 
and  New  Jersey,  273,000;  between  such  agricultural  states  as 
Mississippi  and  Louisiana,  69,463 ;  between  Iowa  and  Wisconsin, 
57,447- 

It  is  known  that  the  building  trades  absorb  many  workers  who 
migrate  from  country  to  city.  Various  commercial  pursuits 
likewise  draw  many  from  rural  to  commercial  and  industrial  areas. 
An  investigation  of  the  Philadelphia  Rapid  Transit  Company, 
covering  200  successful  applicants  for  employment,  and  showing 
that  13  per  cent,  were  formerly  farmers  of  native  birth,  suggest 
another  line  of  movement  from  rural  to  surban  pursuits. 

2.  Factors  Encouraging  Movement — (a)  Propertyless- 
ness.  The  person  without  property,  particularly  of  the  non- 
home-owning  type,  is  likely  to  be  more  mobile  than  the  man  who 
has  local  property  attachments.  Statistics  of  home-owning  show 
a  small  percentage  of  home-owners  among  workers  in  the  more 
industrial  states  or  centers,  a  higher  percentage  in  the  less  industrial 
sections.  For  instance,  the  percentage  of  home-owners  in  New 
York  city  is  12  per  cent.,  in  Fall  River  18  per  cent.,  in  Jersey  City 
and  Connecticut  20  per  cent.  For  workers  only,  the  percentage 
would  be  still  smaller.  Fall  River  furnishes  a  particularly  good 
illustration.  It  is  a  town  of  cotton  operatives,  who  are  very 
mobile.  Local  attachments  are  so  weak  with  these  workers  that 
fines  imposed  for  mistakes  made  in  work  serve  to  drive  workers 
from  one  factory  town  to  another.  A  study  of  2,299  cotton 
operatives  in  Rhode  Island  showed  only  10  per  cent,  of  home 
owners.  Reports  of  the  Massachusetts  Labor  Bureau  contain 
many  references  to  the  exodus  of  textile  operatives  to  Canada  and 
England.  A  sample  entry  records  the  migration  of  100  weavers 
from  New  Bedford  to  Weston,  Mass.,  where  they  were  to  be 
employed  on  a  one-year  contract  at  slightly  increased  wages.  In 
an  agricultural  state  like  Kansas  the  proportion  of  home  owners 
among  employees  in  trade  and  industry  is  higher.    For  instance, 


206 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


a  study  of  390  workers,  almost  all  members  of  unions,  made  by 
the  Kansas  Bureau  of  Labor  and  Industry  in  1907,  showed  151 
home-owners,  a  percentage  of  39. 

From  the  standpoint  of  occupational  variations,  the  more 
skilled  the  occupation,  the  more  steady  the  work,  and  the  higher 
the  pay,  the  larger  in  the  main  is  the  percentage  of  home-owners. 
In  Pawtucket,  R.  L,  for  instance,  an  investigation  showed  among 
machinists  18  per  cent,  of  home-owners,  among  workers  in  building 
trades  15  per  cent.,  metal  workers  10  per  cent.,  weavers  (an 
unusually  mobile  lot)  9  per  cent.,  unskilled  workers  7.9  per  cent. 
The  highest  percentage  was  for  city  government  employees  (over 

18  per  cent.).  Clerks  showed  a  percentage  almost  as  low  as  the 
unskilled  workers,  9  per  cent. 

Similar  conclusions  may  be  drawn  from  the  figures  for  other 
cities  and  states.  For  instance,  reports  from  99  unions  in  Michi- 
gan, covering  8,589  members,  show  the  highest  percentage  of  home- 
owners among  the  steady- working  coopers  (50  per  cent.);  the 
lowest  among  the  less  steady- working,  and  more  poorly  paid  cigar 
makers  (12  per  cent.),  printers  (16  per  cent.),  tailors  (17  per  cent.), 
metal  polishers  (18  per  cent.).  An  investigation  of  4,800  working- 
men  in  34  towns  in  Michigan  showed  26  per  cent,  of  home-owners; 
another  covering  5,399  in  39  towns  of  the  same  state  showed  27 
per  cent.  Of  4,948  employees  in  the  vehicle  industry  in  Michigan 
21  per  cent,  owned  their  homes. 

In  the  coal  mines  of  Illinois,  the  percentage  of  homeowners 
among  miners  is  44  per  cent.,  mechanics  54  per  cent.,  unskilled 
workers  30  per  cent. 

In  the  electrical  railway  occupations,  of  1,021  employees  on 

19  Michigan  roads  less  than  20  per  cent,  owned  homes.  Of 
1,865  employees  of  the  Union  Railroad  of  San  Francisco,  24  per 
cent,  owned  homes. 

(b)  Age  and  Unmarried  Condition.  Young,  unmarried, 
non-home-owning  workers  are  more  mobile  than  older,  married 
workers.    In  all  cases,  unskilled  laborers  of  the  same  age  as 


R.  BRODSKY 


207 


skilled,  show  a  smaller  percentage  of  marriage.  In  Pawtucket, 
for  instance,  the  average  ages  of  workers  and  the  percentage 
married  were  as  follows: 

Married. 

Average  Age.       Per  Cent. 


Building  Trades  37  65 

Machinists  33  57 

Metal  Workers  33  55 

City  Government  Employees  37  64 

Bookkeepers  29  47 

Laborers  37  52 


Among  street  railway  employees  there  is  a  low  percentage  of 
marriage.  Most  street  railway  companies  employ  only  men  35 
years  of  age  or  under.  The  following  figures  covering  street  rail- 
way employees  in  five  different  cities,  including  one  city  and 
interurban  area,  illustrate  the  situation: 


30  Years 

and  Under. 

Over  30  Year  Married. 

Per  Cent. 

Per  Cent.     Per  Cent. 

Detroit  

 80 

20 

39 

Scran  ton  

 80 

20 

36 

 80 

20 

42 

 88 

12 

29.9 

 70 

30 

49 

Workingmen  are  inclined  to  marry  at  about  thirty  years  of  age 
and  mobility,  regional  as  well  as  occupational,  is  in  consequence 
larger  before  thirty  than  after  that  age.  The  statistics  of  the  New 
York  and  Massachusetts  free  employment  bureaus  illustrate  the 
situation  with  regard  to  the  relative  proportions  of  married  and 
unmarried  persons  in  skilled  and  unskilled  pursuits.  In  the 
New  York  bureau,  and  skilled  workers  placed  show  40  per  cent, 
of  married,  the  unskilled  32  per  cent.,  servants  20  per  cent., 
clerks,  17  per  cent.  In  the  unskilled  group  the  occupations  were 
as  follows :  % 


208 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


Drivers  

Coachmen  . . 

Laborers  

Stablemen  .. 
Useful  Men  . 
Handy  Men  . 
Farm  Hands 


Mauied. 

Numbe*.  Per  Cent. 

.132  35 

-  60  33 
.204  31 

-  40  25 
.134  18 

-  45  15 
.  64  13 


The  figures  of  the  Massachusetts  bureau  do  not  specify  numbers 
of  married  and  unmarried  by  occupations.  There  is,  however, 
a  general  average  of  18  per  cent,  of  married  persons  among  success- 
ful applicants.  The  fact  that  of  all  successful  male  applicants 
(3,212),  75  per  cent,  were  unskilled  and  10  per  cent,  clerks  (85  per 
cent,  in  all),  suggests  the  same  situation  as  that  afforded  by  the 
New  York  figures. 

Within  skilled  trades  the  percentage  of  marriages  increases 
with  higher  wages  and  greater  steadiness  of  work. 

Periodic  idleness  also  contributes  to  change  of  residence  as 
well  as  to  change  of  occupation.  The  fact  that  of  skilled  workers 
who  make  use  of  employment  bureaus  the  large  proportion  are 
workers  in  the  building  trades  tends  to  confirm  this  conclusion. 
But  this  phase  of  the  subject  may  better  be  treated  in  the  next 
section. 


II.  OCCUPATIONAL  MOVEMENT 
1.  Influences  Compelling  Movement,  (a)  Idleness, 
Seasonal  or  Otherwise. — Protracted  idleness  often  leads  a 
person  in  a  skilled  trade  to  seek  other  temporary  employment  or 
to  change  his  occupation  entirely.  In  New  York  City,  for  instance, 
pressers  and  tailors  often  give  up  their  trades  for  employment  on 
street  cars,  elevated  or  subway  trains,  for  civil  service  or  for  business. 
The  inquiry  into  the  former  occupations  of  applicants  for  posi- 
tions with  the  Philadelphia  Rapid  Transit  Co.,  showed  that  40 


R.  BRODSKY 


209 


per  cent,  of  the  applicants  from  skilled  lines  of  work  were  pre- 
viously employed  in  the  building  trades,  in  which  seasonal  periods 
of  idleness  are,  of  course,  very  prominent.  The  statistics  of  the 
free  employment  bureaus  of  New  York  and  Massachussetts  illus- 
trate the  same  point.  Of  the  skilled  mechanics  who  applied  for 
positions  in  the  New  York  bureau,  over  30  per  cent,  were  skilled 
workers  in  the  building  trades,  and  in  the  Massachusetts  bureau, 
over  40  per  cent. 

The  question  whether  or  not  idleness  in  the  skilled  trades  is 
more  of  a  problem  than  in  the  unskilled  cannot  be  answered  here. 
The  data  obtained  are  too  incomplete  to  formulate  a  conclusion. 
All  we  know  is  that  the  idleness  in  various  skilled  trades  reappears 
regularly  every  year,  while  for  unskilled  workers  there  are  no 
limits  to  the  periods  of  idleness,  forces  that  are  less  calculable 
ruling  there  to  a  larger  degree  than  elsewhere. 

The  consequences  of  idleness  as  to  change  of  occupation  are 
very  different  for  skilled  and  unskilled  workers.  The  skilled 
mechanic  knows  his  slack  times  and  is  prepared  for  them,  while 
the  unskilled  man  is  uncertain  of  them,  lives  from  hand  to  mouth 
and  in  case  of  temporary  unemployment  is  prepared  to  take  up 
any  kind  of  work  offered  him.  He  changes  one  occupation  for 
another.  Such  is  not  the  rule  with  skilled  workers,  who  are  seldom 
found  in  the  free  employment  bureaus  or  in  other  occupations  than 
their  original  ones. 

(b)  Disease  and  Industrial  Accidents  peculiar  to  certain 
trades  are  further  factors  in  forcing  a  movement  of  workers  to 
other  occupations.  Considering  the  rapid  industrial  development 
of  the  United  States,  leading  to  a  large  amount  of  disease  and  acci- 
dent in  industry,  the  changes  in  occupation  due  to  these  two  causes 
must  assume  considerable  importance.  To  determine  exactly 
the  extent  of  their  influence,  to  measure  their  effect  upon  per- 
manency of  occupation,  to  find  their  place  among  the  other  causes 
of  change  of  residence  or  change  of  occupation,  one  must  examine 
tables  of  sickness  and  accident  in  connection  with  various  occupa- 
14 


2IO  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

tions,  and  such  tables  have  not  yet  been  worked  out  with  any 
degree  of  uniformity  for  the  Unietd  States.  It  is  also  necessary  to 
discover  what  becomes  of  those  persons  who  are  sick  or  injured 
but  still  able  to  work.  Confining  ourselves  to  daily  observation 
we  may  conclude  that  the  occupations  of  watchmen,  street-car 
conductors,  elevator  men,  handy  and  useful  men  are  the  dumping 
ground  for  those  persons  who  have  previously  been  employed  in 
dangerous  trades  and  who  have  suffered  physical  injury  therein. 

This  conclusion  is  illustrated  by  an  examination  of  the  statistics 
of  sickness  as  a  cause  of  idleness  among  applicants  for  employ- 
ment, compiled  by  the  New  York  State  Free  Employment  Bureau, 
by  reports  of  the  New  York  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics  bearing 
on  causes  of  idleness  among  union  workers,  and  by  a  hasty  examina- 
tion of  fifty  cases  of  workers  injured  in  Pittsburg  industries.  The 
Pittsburg  figures  show  the  following  results:  Of  24  skilled 
workers,  2  (machinists)  retained  their  former  trade,  8  have  been 
out  of  work,  and  14  changed  their  occupations  as  follows: 

3  machinists  became  1  street  car  conductor,  1  farmer,  1  laborer. 

1  electrician  became  a  travelling  salesman. 

1  painter  became  a  porter. 

1  carpenter  became  a  laborer. 

1  moulder  became  a  laborer. 

1  boilerman  became  a  laborer. 

1  ironworker  became  a  laborer. 

1  steam  power  man  became  a  laborer. 

1  steel  worker  became  a  watchman. 

1  gasfitter  became  a  dealer  in  lumber. 

2  brakemen  became  1  fireman,  1  conductor. 

Of  26  unskilled  workers,  16  retained  former  occupations,  1 
has  been  out  of  work,  1  moved  away,  1  became  a  prisoner,  and  7 
became  servants  and  handy  men  at  occasional  labor. 

Cases  coming  before  charitable  societies  illustrate  the  same 
downward  tendency  in  which  sickness,  accident,  the  growing 
incapacity  due  to  advancing  age  and  general  inefficiency  promote 


R.  BRODSKY 


211 


unusual  occupational  versatility.  The  following  instances  from 
the  case  records  of  the  New  York  Charity  Organization  Society  are 
typical:  a  driver  of  56,  crippled  with  rheumatism,  was  employed 
as  a  paper- folder  and  as  a  watchman;  an  iron-worker  found 
employment  as  conductor,  motorman,  and  porter;  a  waiter  had 
also  been  a  watchman,  a  snow-shoveller,  and  a  janitor;  a  shoe- 
maker had  worked  as  pantryman,  wood-chopper,  and  paint- 
mixer;  an  actress  of  48  became  in  turn  house-keeper,  collector 
and  sample  agent;  and  a  boy  of  20  had  already  been  unsuccessfully 
a  designer,  embroiderer,  peddler,  factory  hand,  newspaper  ven- 
der and  motorman. 

A  study  of  sources  of  information  such  as  these,  suggests  that  if 
a  skilled  mechanic  changes  his  work  (not  taking  into  account  the 
long  unemployment  period)  he  does  it  because  of  sickness  or  acci- 
dent. It  shows,  too,  that  then  and  not  before,  he  applies  to  the 
free  employment  bureau  and  is  willing  to  do  any  kind  of  work 
related  to  his  former  occupation.  This  also  partially  answers  the 
question  why  free  employment  bureaus  show  so  large  a  proportion 
of  applications  from  unskilled  workers  and  why  the  unions  encour- 
age the  movement  toward  free  employment  bureaus.  Their 
encouragement  comes,  not  only  because  of  solicitude  for  un- 
skilled laborers  who  suffer  from  the  machinations  of  private  em- 
ployment bureaus,  but  because  the  unions,  although  successful  in 
securing  positions  for  their  efficient  workers,  are  unable  to  provide 
employment  for  their  own  sick  or  injured  members,  and  pass  them 
on  to  the  free  employment  bureaus  for  easier  work. 

3.  Duration  of  Labor  in  Given  Occupations. — A  high 
percentage  of  home-owning,  as  well  as  a  high  marriage  rate, 
indicates  lack  of  mobility  among  workingmen.  Unemployment, 
sickness  or  accident  compel  movement  on  the  part  of  workers. 
The  conclusions  reached  under  these  heads  with  regard  to  the 
relative  mobility  of  skilled  and  unskilled  workers  receive  further 
verification  from  an  examination  of  certain  data  illustrating  the 
period  of  employment  in  different  occupations.    Here  again 


212  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

the  duration  is  longest  among  skilled  workers  and  lowest  in  un- 
skilled occupations.  This,  of  course,  is  to  be  expected.  The 
skilled  mechanic  is  a  specialist  and  he  is  not  likely  to  change  his 
manner  of  work  unless  forced  to  do  so  by  circumstances.  Clerks 
are  mobile  in  response  to  a  variety  of  opportunity,  and  they  change 
frequently.  Unskilled  workers  are  largely  at  the  mercy  of  forces 
that  they  cannot  foresee,  and  by  virtue  of  circumstances  they 
move  in  response  to  opportunities,  which  often  carry  them  down- 
ward instead  of  upward  as  in  the  case  of  clerks. 

Among  skilled  occupations,  those  which  have  their  origin  in 
the  handicrafts  and  have  been  modified  to  suit  changed  economic 
conditions,  which  are  not  subject  to  seasonal  variations  and  which 
are  organized,  show  the  greatest  stability.  The  skilled  trades 
which  do  not  have  apprenticeship  arrangements  or  their  equivalent, 
which  are  not  organized  into  trade  unions  and  which  offer  seasonal 
work,  show  the  least  stability.  The  whole  policy  of  trade  unions, 
whether  it  be  through  trade  agreement  to  check  strikes  and  estab- 
lish a  uniform  scale  of  wages  for  a  long  period  over  a  large  territory 
in  a  particular  industry,  or  whether  it  be  to  maintain  or  raise  the 
standard  of  living  of  workingmen  to  the  highest  possible  point  by 
efforts  to  shorten  hours  of  labor,  increase  wages  and  secure  greater 
responsibility  from  employers  in  cases  of  accident, — this  policy 
works  always  in  the  direction  of  the  greatest  possible  stability  of 
labor.  The  following  table,  giving  the  average  duration  of  em- 
ployment of  4,800  workers  in  34  towns  in  Michigan,  is  illustrative : 


Trade.  Years  Employed. 

Cooper  22.7 

Blacksmith  18.4 

Harness-maker  17.0 

Painter  19.0  (in  another  investigation,  9) 

Moulder  17.8 

Mason  16.0 

Miller  16.0 

Engineer  15.0 

Cigarmaker  12.0 

Machinist  13.0 

Tailor   8.4 

Barber  11.1 


R.  BRODSKY 


213 


Trade.  Years  Employed. 

Butcher  10.  o 

Machine  Helper   8.8 

Woolen  Mills   6.3 

R.  R.  Work   8.3 

Teamster   5.7 

Factory   5.0 

Laborer   4.5 

Helper  4.5 

Manager  13-0 

Foreman  10.3 

Bookkeeper   7.6 

Clerk  

Salesman  9.9 

Shipping  Clerk   6.5 

An  investigation  of  the  duration  of  work  in  the  coal  mines  of 
Illinois  showed  the  following  results. 


Years  of  Service. 

w 

a 

> 

Occupation. 

Number 
Involved. 

Five  Per 
Cent. 

Ten  Per 
Cent. 

Fifteen 
Per  Cent 

Twenty 
Per  Cent 

twenty-fi\ 
Per  Cent 

Thirty 
Per  Cent 

Thirty-fiv 
Per  Cent 

Forty 
Per  Cent 

Over  Fort 
Per  Cent. 

Laborers  

762 

23.0 

30.0 

26.0 

11. 6 

2-3 

1.0 

1.0 

Mechanics  .  . 

206 

18.0 

18.0 

16.0 

19.0 

13.0 

5-o 

5-o 

3 

3-° 

8,818 

8-7 

20.8 

22.1 

16.7 

13-9 

7-2 

5-7 

2 

3-o 

Others  

473 

0.2 

12.2 

18.0 

20.0 

20.0 

10. 0 

6.0 

3 

3-6 

Total  

10,259 

10. 0 

00.20 

22.0 

17.0 

14.0 

7.0 

5-o 

2 

2.0 

That  the  street  railways  are  the  dumping  ground  for  the  unem- 
ployed is  illustrated  by  the  following  table : 

EMPLOYED  BY  WASHINGTON  WATER  POWER    CO.    (1902)  (107 

PERSONS) 

Duration  of  Work.  No. 
Less  than  1  year  40 

1-  2  years  19 

2-  3  10 

3-  4   6 

4-  5   6 

Total  less  than  5  years  81  or  75.7  per  cent. 

5-  9  years  13  or  12. 1  per  cent. 

10  years  and  over  13  or  12. 1  per  cent. 

Total  107 


214 


AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


Similar  results  are  shown  in  the  cases  of  the  United  Railroad 
Company  of  San  Francisco,  and  of  19  electric  railways  of  Michigan 
(1,029  employes). 

Little  information  has  been  obtained  as  to  former  occupations 
of  persons  changing  employment.  The  table  given  above  regard- 
ing accident  cases  bears  on  the  matter,  as  do  the  following  figures 
of  the  Philadelphia  Rapid  Transit  Company,  covering  200  success- 
ful applicants  for  positions : 

18  per  cent  came  from  skilled  industries. 

20  per  cent  came  from  the  commercial  and  professional  pursuits. 
58  per  cent  came  from  unskilled  occupations. 
4  per  cent  came  from  servant  class. 

SOME  GENERAL  CONCLUSIONS 

1.  Skilled  workers  in  trades  are  little  inclined  to  change  their 
occupations  unless  forced  to  do  so  by  circumstances  beyond  their 
control.  Change  of  residence  in  response  to  larger  opportunities 
of  employment  is  not  infrequent,  but  change  of  occupation  in 
response  to  similar  influences  is  an  exceptional  occurrence. 

2.  Unskilled  workers  show  a  higher  occupational  mobility  than 
do  the  skilled.  But  here  again  it  is  the  pressure  of  necessity  more 
often  than  the  call  of  larger  opportunity  that  brings  change  of 
occupation.  With  reference  to  change  of  residence  the  figures  for 
age,  marriage  and  home-owning  would  suggest  larger  possibility  of 
movement  on  the  part  of  unskilled  than  of  skilled  workers;  but 
these  figures  may  be  very  misleading  in  this  respect. 

3.  The  clerical  group  is  particularly  mobile.  With  them  new 
opportunities  are  more  often  sought  and  embraced  than  with  the 
other  two  groups. 

4.  Any  employment  agency  which  seeks  to  find  employment 
merely  for  those  who  apply  for  work,  and  which  aims  to  accommo- 
date applicants  for  helpers  merely  by  sending  workers  from  their 
list  of  applicants  for  work,  will  encounter  a  situation  suggested  by 


R.  BRODSKY 


215 


the  first  two  conclusions.  Except  in  the  case  of  domestic  servants 
and  of  wholly  unskilled  workers,  the  activities  of  such  a  bureau 
would  in  such  case  be  confined  to  the  relatively  inefficient  residue 
of  the  skilled  and  unskilled  groups,  rather  than  to  the  more  capable 
workers.  A  bureau  that  would  promote  genuine  mobility  among 
workers  must  find  some  means  of  reaching  the  mass  of  employees 
and  employers  in  such  a  way  as  to  substitute  opportunity  for 
necessity  as  a  cause  of  movement. 


APPENDIX  VIII 


Statement  from  Charles  K.  Blatchly, 


Superintendent  or  the  Joint  Application  Bureau,  in  Regard 
to  an  Experiment  in  Finding  Employment  for  Men  in 
the  Country. 

On  May  21,  1908,  the  Joint  Committee  authorized  me  to  send 
out  letters  to  newspapers  published  in  the  smaller  towns  within  a 
radius  of  fifty  miles  of  New  York  City.  Three  hundred  letters 
were  mimeographed  and  sent  to  the  editors  on  June  1 .  The  letter 
read  as  follows. 

During  the  present  financial  depression  when  thousands  of  men  are  out  of 
work,  it  has  been  frequently  stated  by  the  press  and  at  public  meetings  that  if  the 
idle  men  of  the  cities  were  willing  to  go  into  the  country,  farmers  would  be  able  to 
give  work  to  these  unskilled,  unemployed  men  on  their  farms. 

The  conditions  of  last  winter  still  exist,  and  the  number  of  unemployed,  un- 
married men  is  still  large.  These  men  come  to  the  office  of  the  Joint  Application 
Bureau  in  New  York  City  and  beg  for  work.  Many  of  them  have  no  home,  and 
there  are  few  city  positions  in  which  they  can  be  placed.  Possibly,  if  these  facts 
should  be  brought  to  the  attention  of  your  readers,  they  might  secure  needed  labor 
at  reasonable  wages,  and  so  relieve  distress. 

We  shall  be  glad,  should  any  of  your  readers  desire  to  communicate  with  us 
with  this  end  in  view,  to  send  (passage  prepaid  at  our  expense,  to  be  refunded  out  of 
their  first  wages)  such  men  as  we  believe  could  fill  the  positions  wanted.  We  would 
investigate  to  the  best  of  our  ability  the  qualifications  of  each  man,  and  would  try 
to  send  the  best  man,  in  each  case,  for  the  work  desired. 

It  is  almost  impossible  in  the  great  majority  of  homeless  cases,  to  thoroughly 
establish  the  truth  of  the  statements  made  to  us,  so  it  can  be  readily  understood  that 
we  would  not  wish  to  incur  any  responsibility  for  their  conduct  or  honesty;  we  could 
simply  do  our  best  to  ascertain  the  facts. 

We  have  investigated  the  cases  of  many  of  the  men  who  have  applied  to  us,  and 
have  received  favorable  reports  from  their  former  employers. 

May  we  ask  you  to  give  space  in  your  publication — as  often  as  you  feel  so  dis- 
posed— to  this  letter,  so  that  the  opportunity  of  securing  labor  may  be  conveyed  to 
your  readers. 

216 


CHARLES  K.  BLATCHLY 


217 


From  June  1  to  September  30,  work  was  secured  for  78  men 
and  we  have  sent  out  since  that  time  enough  men  to  make  100. 

For  the  78  men  we  furnished  transportation  amounting  to 
$222.28,  of  which  we  received  as  refunds  $118.96,  or  53.4  per  cent. 
We  received  refunds  on  the  transportation  from  46  men. 

The  reports  received  were  generally  favorable,  unsatisfactory 
reports  being  received  in  only  11  cases. 

The  larger  part  of  these  men  were  placed  at  wages  paying  from 
$10  to  $15  a  month,  very  few  of  them  receiving  more. 

A  large  number  of  letters  were  written  by  this  bureau  to  ascer- 
tain the  reliability  of  the  prospective  employers. 

I  feel  that  this  work  was  not  begun  early  enough  in  the  year  to 
place  the  number  of  men  that  might  have  been  placed  had  we  sent 
out  the  letters  earlier  in  the  season.  Besides  there  is  a  limited 
demand  for  farm  labor  within  a  radius  of  50  miles  of  New  York 
City.  If  we  had  extended  the  territory  over  which  we  sent  our 
letters,  I  think  we  could  easily  have  placed  a  much  larger  number 
of  men. 

December  17,  1908. 


APPENDIX  IX 


Extract  from  the  Sixth  Annual  Report  (1908) 
of  Hon.  Oscar  S.  Straus,  Secretary  of 
Commerce  and  Labor — Page  23 


DIVISION  OF  INFORMATION 

Section  40  of  the  immigration  act  of  February  20,  1907,  pro- 
vided for  the  establishment  of  a  Division  of  Information  in  the 
Bureau  of  Immigration  and  Naturalization.  Its  duties  were 
defined  as  follows: 

It  shall  be  the  duty  of  said  division  to  promote  a  beneficial  distribution  of  aliens 
admitted  into  the  United  States  among  the  several  states  and  territories  desiring 
immigration.  Correspondence  shall  be  had  with  the  proper  officials  of  the  states 
and  territories,  and  said  division  shall  gather  from  all  available  sources  useful  in- 
formation regarding  the  resources,  products,  and  physical  characteristics  of  each 
state  and  territory,  and  shall  publish  such  information  in  different  languages  and 
distribute  the  publications  among  all  admitted  aliens  who  may  ask  for  such  informa- 
tion at  the  immigrant  stations  of  the  United  States  and  to  such  other  persons  as 
may  desire  the  same. 

The  purpose  of  this  law,  as  interpreted  by  me,  is  twofold :  first, 
to  bring  about  a  distribution  of  immigrants  arriving  in  this  country, 
thus  preventing,  so  far  as  possible,  the  congestion  in  our  larger 
Atlantic  seaport  cities  that  has  attended  the  immigration  of  recent 
years;  and  second,  to  supply  information  to  all  of  our  workers, 
whether  native,  foreign-born,  or  alien,  so  that  they  may  be  con- 
stantly advised  in  respect  to  every  part  of  the  country  as  to  what 
kind  of  labor  may  be  in  demand,  the  conditions  surrounding  it, 
the  rate  of  wages,  and  the  cost  of  living  in  the  respective  cities. 

218 


HON.  OSCAR  S.  STRAUS 


219 


Problem  of  the  Unemployed. — It  is  a  subject  of  great  interest 
in  all  commercial  countries  how  to  provide  work,  especially  in 
periods  of  industrial  depression,  for  the  unemployed.  There  are 
always  two  kinds  of  unemployed, : — those  who  are  too  lazy  and 
shiftless  to  work,  which  we  need  not  take  under  consideration,  and 
those  who,  without  fault  of  their  own,  are  unable  to  find  work 
because  of  depression  or  because  the  labor  market  is  oversupplied. 

In  a  country  so  great  as  ours,  with  its  multiplicity  of  industries, 
it  is  not  an  unusual  condition  that  when  the  demand  for  labor  is 
slack  in  one  part  of  the  country  there  is  a  demand  for  additional 
labor  in  other  parts  of  the  country,  and  when  some  industries  slow 
down  there  is  a  demand  for  additional  workers  in  others.  This 
condition  frequently  obtains  in  the  demand  for  farm  laborers,  and 
often  at  seasons  of  the  year  when  manufacturing  industries  are 
slack.  While  these  conditions  apply  less  to  skilled  than  to  unskilled 
labor,  it  is  also  true  that  the  problem  of  the  unemployed  affects 
chiefly  this  latter  class.  I  regard  the  extension  and  development 
of  the  work  of  this  division  as  of  the  very  highest  importance  in 
meeting  this  problem,  and  the  first  requisite  is  to  make  accessible 
the  information  above  referred  to,  and  the  second  is  to  facilitate 
and  cheapen  transporattion.  This  may  be  done,  perhaps  without 
legislation,  by  an  arrangement  with  the  various  railroad  and 
transportation  companies  of  the  country  for  a  labor-exchange  rate. 
I  present  the  subject  in  the  hope  that  it  will  receive  the  considera- 
tion that  so  important  a  subject  demands,  and  as  supplying  a 
remedy,  if  not  a  complete  solution,  in  this  country  of  the  problem 
of  the  unemployed. 

The  work  of  the  division  since  its  organization  is  described  in 
detail  in  the  report  of  its  chief,  to  which  reference  is  made.  I 
desire  to  express  thanks  for  the  hearty  cooperation  that  the  depart- 
ment has  received  from  the  postmaster-general  and  from  the 
secretary  of  agriculture. 

The  scope  of  this  division  could  be  usefully  extended  in  another 
direction,  which  I  have  embodied  in  the  recommendation  for  the 


220  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

amendment  of  the  law,  proposed  by  the  division.  The  emigration 
figures  to  which  I  have  referred  afford  evidence  that  most  of  the 
immigration  to  this  country  is  stimulated  by  false,  glowing  and 
misleading  information  in  regard  to  the  opportunities  here,  as  if 
the  country  were  an  Eldorado  where  laziness  is  rewarded  and  large 
returns  await  even  the  slothful.  When  such  immigrants  come 
they  find  that  while  the  rewards  of  labor  are  much  greater  in  this 
country  than  in  their  own,  the  American  laborer  is  more  industri- 
ous, energetic,  and  self-reliant  than  elsewhere,  and  that  while  the 
opportunities  in  this  country  are  greater  the  qualities  necessary  to 
benefit  thereby  also  require  an  increase  of  effective  energy,  and  that 
the  same  lack  of  qualifications  which  spelled  failure  at  home  are 
writ  even  larger  in  this  country.  With  their  delusions  dispelled, 
they  return  to  their  countries  sadder  but  wiser  men. 

Much  of  this  kind  of  immigration  could  be  stopped  at  its  source 
by  the  dissemination  of  correct  information  throughout  foreign 
countries  from  which  our  immigration  chiefly  comes.  Perhaps 
the  best  medium  through  which  this  information  could  be  dissem- 
inated from  time  to  time  is  through  our  consuls;  also  the  various 
labor  organizations  of  the  country  could  be  of  aid  to  the  division, 
both  in  the  collection  and  presentation  of  the  various  kinds  of 
information  referred  to.  I  foresee  great  and  substantial  extension 
that  can  be  given  to  the  scope  and  work  of  this  important  division, 
and  trust  that  Congress  will  enable  the  department  to  carry  forward 
this  work  in  the  various  directions  I  have  outlined. 


APPENDIX  X 


The  Value  of  Labor  Exchanges 


EXTRACT  FROM  A  PAMPHLET  ON  "  LABOR  EX- 
CHANGES," 
By  Mr.  W.  H.  Beveridge,  of  London 

A  labor  or  employment  exchange  is  an  office  for  registering 
on  the  one  hand  the  needs  of  employers  for  work-people,  on  the 
other  hand  the  needs  of  workpeople  for  employment.  It  is  a 
means  not  of  making  work  but  of  putting  those  who  want  work 
and  those  who  want  workpeople  into  immediate  communication. 
It  is  a  market-place  for  labor.  What  is  the  use  of  a  market-place 
for  labor  ? 

In  the  first  place,  it  may  be  urged  that  there  is  nothing  sur- 
prising in  labor  exchanges  being  thought  useful.  Everything  else 
that  is  bought  and  sold, — corn,  or  wool,  or  stocks, — has  its  known 
market-place.  Labor  is  the  only  thing  which  still  finds  a  buyer 
only,  or,  as  a  rule,  by  being  hawked  from  door  to  door.  There 
must,  on  the  face  of  it,  be  as  much  reason  for  abolishing  this 
antiquated  and  wasteful  method  of  hawking  in  regard  to  labor 
as  in  regard  to  anything  else.  The  surprising  thing  is  not  that 
labor  exchanges  should  be  wanted  now,  but  that  they  should  not 
have  been  established  long  ago. 

It  is,  however,  unnecessary  to  rely  on  general  arguments. 
As  soon  as  the  question  is  examined  a  whole  series  of  practical 
reasons  may  be  seen  for  regarding  the  organization  of  the  labor 
market  by  a  connected  system  of  labor  exchanges  as  the  first  step 
in  any  solution  of  the  unemployed  problem. 

221 


222  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

1.  Labor  exchanges,  in  some  form  or  other,  are  indispensable 
for  the  abolition  of  casual  labor.  It  is  not  possible  for  each 
individual  employer  to  employ  only  regular  men.  It  is  possible 
for  all  employers  to  agree  or  to  be  compelled  to  take  their  irregular 
men  from  some  common  center.  The  business  of  that  central 
office  will  then  be  so  to  distribute  work  as  to  give  each  man  who 
gets  any  work  at  all  a  fairly  regular  flow  of  work  under  several 
employers  in  turn,  where  it  cannot  be  regular  under  one  employer 
alone. 

2.  Labor  exchanges,  though  they  cannot,  in  times  of  depression, 
make  work,  can  reduce  unemployment  even  in  such  times  by 
abolishing  all  unemployment  that  is  merely  local  in  character. 
They,  and  they  alone,  can  make  it  impossible  for  me  to  be  vainly 
seeking  work  in  one  place,  while  employers  are  vainly  seeking  just 
those  men  in  another. 

3.  Labor  exchanges  are  necessary  for  any  drastic  treatment 
of  vagrancy.  The  excuse  of  the  habitual  vagrant  is  that  he  is 
tramping  in  search  of  work.  A  national  system  of  labor  exchanges 
using  the  post  office,  the  telephone,  and  the  railway,  will  gradually 
relieve  the  habitual  vagrant  of  the  excuse  and  the  decent  workman 
of  the  necessity  for  going  blindly  on  the  tramp. 

4.  Labor  exchanges  are  necessary  to  provide  a  test  of  unem- 
ployment in  the  mass  and  in  the  individual.  They  will  show  at 
all  times  what  the  problem  is  and  where  it  lies.  They  will  auto- 
matically register  the  beginning,  depth,  and  ending  of  exceptional 
depression,  and  will  thus  guide  the  administration  of  any  special 
measures  that  may  be  thought  necessary.  They  alone  will  show 
as  to  any  individual  workman  whether  he  is  now  unemployed 
against  his  will,  because  they  alone  will  keep  all  men  in  immediate 
touch  with  all  the  employment  that  offers.  No  system  of  insurance 
against  unemployment  and  no  system  of  relief  outside  the  Poor 
Law  is  safe  from  abuse  without  such  a  test. 

5.  Labor  exchanges  in  direct  connection  with  the  elementary 
schools  are  necessary,  in  order  to  organize  and  guide  the  entry 


W.  H.  BEVE RIDGE 


223 


of  boys  and  girls  into  industrial  life,  to  give  each  a  wider  choice  of 
the  work  for  which  he  or  she  is  best  fitted,  to  study  and  to  influence 
the  character  of  the  demand  for  youthful  workers,  to  accumulate 
for  the  formation  of  public  opinion  or  the  framing  of  laws  informa- 
tion as  to  the  careers  offered  by  various  occupations. 

It  is  not  possible  here  to  do  more  than  thus  state  in  bare  outline 
some  of  the  services  which  labor  exchanges  may  be  expected  to 
render  in  regard  to  unemployment.  The  first  alone  is  dealt  with 
at  greater  length  in  the  following  pages  (omitted  here).  The 
" decasualisation  of  labor"  is  at  once  the  most  important  point, 
in  view  of  the  admitted  facts  of  the  unemployed  problem,  and  the 
one  most  needing  special  explanation. 


APPENDIX  XI 


Extract  from  Address  by  Rt.  Hon.  Winston 
Churchill,  M.P., 

President  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  at  the  Annual  Gather- 
ing of  the  Council  of  the  Scottish  Liberal  Associa- 
tion, October  9,  1908 


We  talk  a  great  deal  about  the  unemployed,  but  the  evil  of 
the  under-employed  is  the  tap-root  of  unemployment.  There 
is  a  tendency  in  many  trades,  almost  in  all  trades,  to  have  a  fringe 
of  casual  labor  on  hand,  available  as  a  surplus  whenever  there  is  a 
boom,  flung  back  into  the  whirlpool  whenever  there  is  a  slump. 
Employers  and  foremen  in  many  trades  are  drawn  consciously  or 
unconsciously  to  distribute  their  work  among  a  larger  number  of 
men  than  they  regularly  require,  because  this  obviously  increases 
their  bargaining  power  with  them,  and  supplies  a  convenient 
reserve  for  periods  of  brisk  business  activity.  And  what  I  desire 
to  impress  upon  you,  and  through  you  upon  this  country,  is  that 
the  casual  unskilled  laborer  who  is  habitually  under-employed, 
who  is  lucky  to  get  three,  or  at  the  outside  four,  days'  work  in  the 
week,  who  may  often  be  out  of  a  job  for  three  or  four  weeks  at 
a  time,  who  in  bad  times  goes  under  altogether,  and  who  in  good 
times  has  not  hope  of  security  and  no  incentive  to  thrift,  whose 
whole  life  and  the  lives  of  his  wife  and  children  are  embarked  in  a 
sort  of  blind,  desperate,  fatalistic  gamble  with  circumstances 
beyond  his  comprehension  or  control, — that  this  poor  man,  this 
terrible  and  pathetic  figure  is  not  as  a  class  the  result  of  accident 
or  chance,  is  not  casual  because  he  wishes  to  be  casual,  is  not  casual 

224 


HON.  WINSTON  CHURCHILL 


225 


as  the  consequence  of  some  temporary  disturbance  soon  put  right. 
No,  the  casual  laborer  is  here  because  he  is  wanted  here.  He 
is  here  in  answer  to  a  perfectly  well-defined  demand.  He  is  here 
as  the  result  of  economic  causes  which  have  been  too  long  unregu- 
lated. He  is  not  the  natural  product,  he  is  an  acticle  manufactured, 
called  into  being,  to  suit  the  requirements,  in  the  Prime  Minister's 
telling  phrase,  of  all  industries  at  particular  times  and  of  par- 
ticular industries  at  all  times.  I  suppose  no  department  has  more 
means  of  learning  about  these  things  than  the  Board  of  Trade, 
which  is  in  friendly  touch  at  every  stage  all  over  the  country  with 
both  capital  and  labor.  I  publish  that  fact  deliberately,  I  invite 
you  to  consider  it,  I  want  it  to  soak  in.  It  appears  to  me  that 
measures  to  check  the  growth  and  diminish  the  quantity  of  casual 
labor  must  be  an  essential  part  of  any  thorough  or  scientific  attempt 
to  deal  with  unemployment,  and  I  would  not  proclaim  this  evil 
to  you  without  having  reason  to  believe  that  practicable  means 
exist  by  which  it  can  be  greatly  diminished. 

If  the  first  vicious  condition  which  I  have  mentioned  to  you  is 
lack  of  industrial  organization,  if  the  second  is  the  evil  of  casual 
labor,  there  is  a  third  not  less  important, — I  mean  the  present 
condition  of  boy  labor.  The  whole  underside  of  the  labor  market 
is  deranged  by  the  competition  of  boys  or  young  persons  who  do 
men's  work  for  boys'  wages,  and  are  turned  off  as  soon  as  they 
demand  men's  wages  for  themselves.  This  is  the  evil  so  far  as  it 
affects  the  men;  but  how  does  it  affect  the  boys,  the  youth  of  our 
country,  the  heirs  of  all  our  exertion,  the  inheritors  of  that  long 
treasure  of  history  and  romance,  of  science  and  knowledge, — aye, 
of  national  glory, — for  which  so  many  valiant  generations  have 
fought  and  toiled, — the  youth  of  Britain,  how  are  we  treating  them 
in  the  twentieth  century  of  the  Christian  era  ?  Are  they  not  being 
exploited  ?  Are  they  not  being  demoralized  ?  Are  they  not  being 
thrown  away?  Whereas  the  youth  of  the  wealthier  class  is  all 
kept  under  strict  discipline  until  18  or  19,  the  mass  of  the  nation 
runs  wild  after  14  years  of  age.    No  doubt  at  first  employment  is 


226  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

easy  to  obtain.  There  is  a  wide  and  varied  field;  there  are  a 
hundred  odd  jobs  for  a  lad;  but  almost  every  form  of  employment 
now  open  to  young  persons  affords  them  no  opening,  is  of  no  use 
to  them  whatever,  when  they  are  grown  up,  and  in  a  great  number 
of  cases  the  life  which  they  lead  is  demoralizing  and  harmful. 
And  what  is  the  consequence  ?  The  consequence  may  be  measured 
by  this  grim  fact,  that  out  of  the  unemployed  applying  for  help 
under  the  Unemployed  Workman  Act,  no  less  than  28  per  cent, 
are  between  20  and  30  years  of  age.  That  is  to  say,  men  in  the 
first  flush  of  their  strength  and  manhood,  already  hopelessly 
adrift  on  the  dark  and  tumultuous  ocean  of  life.  Upon  this  sub- 
ject, I  say  to  you  deliberately  that  no  boy  or  girl  ought  to  be 
treated  merely  as  cheap  labor,  that  up  to  18  years  of  age  every 
boy  and  girl  in  this  country  should,  as  in  the  old  days  of  apprentice- 
ship, be  learning  a  trade  as  well  as  earning  a  living. 

All  attempts  to  deal  with  these  and  similar  evils  involve  the 
expenditure  of  money.  It  is  no  use  abusing  capitalists  and  rich 
people.  They  are  neither  worse  nor  better  than  any  one  else. 
They  function  quite  naturally  under  the  conditions  in  which  they 
find  themselves.  When  the  conditions  are  vicious,  the  conse- 
quence will  be  evil;  when  the  conditions  are  reformed,  the  evil 
will  be  abated.  Nor  do  I  think  the  wealthy  people  of  Great 
Britain  would  be  ungenerous  or  unwilling  to  respond  to  the  plain 
need  of  this  nation  for  a  more  complete  or  elaborate  social  organ- 
ization. They  would  have  a  natural  objection  to  having  public 
money  wasted  or  spent  on  keeping  in  artificial  ease  an  ever- 
growing class  of  wastrels  and  ne'er-do-weels.  No  doubt  there 
would  also  be  a  selfish  element  who  would  sullenly  resist  anything 
which  touched  their  pocket.  But  I  believe  that  if  large  schemes, 
properly  prepared  and  scientifically  conceived  for  dealing  with 
the  evils  I  have  mentioned,  were  presented,  and  if  it  could  be 
shown  that  our  national  life  would  be  placed  upon  a  far  more 
stable  and  secure  foundation,  I  believe  that  there  would  be  thousands 
of  rich  people  who  would  cheerfully  make  the  necessary  sacrifices. 


APPENDIX  XII 


Extracts  from  a  Letter  Addressed  by  Mr. 
Cyrus  L.  Sulzberger  to  the  Chairman  of  the 
New  York  State  Commission  of  Immigra- 
tion, in  Regard  to  the  Work  of  the  Indus- 
trial Removal  Office. 


The  Industrial  Removal  Office  began  in  1900  its  work  of  en- 
deavoring to  distribute  Jewish  immigrants  who  were  chiefly  in- 
dustrial and  not  agricultural  workers  from  New  York  throughout 
the  United  States.  Originally  the  attempt  was  made  to  secure  from 
employers  in  the  interior  requisitions  for  the  particular  kind  of  help 
that  they  needed.  It  was  soon  found,  however,  that  the  difficulty  of 
placing  a  man  at  a  job  when  the  man  and  the  job  were  separated  by 
many  hundreds  of  miles  was  almost  insuperable.  After  the  requisi- 
tion reached  us  it  was  necessary  to  find  the  man  who  met  the  re- 
quired specifications,  and  by  the  time  he  was  ready  to  leave  a  few 
days  necessarily  elapsed,  so  that  when  he  reached  his  destination 
it  was  not  infrequently  found  that  the  vacancy  had  been  filled.  It 
was  therefore  determined  to  reverse  the  order  of  procedure  and 
bring  the  man  first  to  the  industrial  center  where  employment  was 
to  be  expected  and  then  fit  him  into  a  position.  Accordingly, 
local  committees  were  organized,  which  may  be  called  reception 
committees,  whose  business  it  was  to  receive  the  immigrant  upon 
his  arrival  in  the  interior  and  care  for  him,  pending  employment 
being  found  for  him.  In  larger  places,  to  which  a  considerable 
number  of  immigrants  were  being  sent,  an  employment  agent 
was  engaged  whose  sole  business  it  was  to  find  occupations  for 

227 


228  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 


the  new  arrivals.  Being  acquainted  in  the  various  industries, 
this  employment  agent  put  himself  in  communication  with  the 
proprietors  and  superintendents  of  the  industrial  establishments 
and  upon  the  arrival  of  immigrants  took  them  in  person  to  places 
where  they  were  likely  to  find  employment.  Of  course  at  this 
end  it  was  necessary  that  care  be  taken  in  sending  the  men  out, 
to  select  such  places  as  were  apt  to  give  them  occupation  in  their 
respective  trades.  A  careful  scrutiny  is  made  by  the  office  here 
of  all  applicants  for  removal  and  of  the  total  number  who  apply 
less  than  one  half  are  sent.  Only  those  are  selected  who  upon 
investigation  give  promise  of  making  successful  workers.  The 
shiftless,  the  lazy,  and  the  incompetent  are  carefully  weeded  out 
and  refused  consideration. 

This  is  the  eighth  year  of  the  activity  of  the  Industrial  Removal 
Office  and  it  has  sent  from  New  York  during  that  period  42,000 
persons,  of  whom,  roughly  60  per  cent  are  breadwinners,  and  the 
remainder  their  wives  and  children.  According  to  the  statistical 
records  that  we  have  kept  from  year  to  year  we  find  that  85  per 
cent  of  those  whom  we  have  sent  away  remained  in  the  places  to 
which  we  sent  them,  and  of  the  remainder  probably  one-half 
located  at  other  places  away  from  New  York.  A  statement  made 
up  last  year,  when  20,194  breadwinners  of  167  different  occupations 
had  been  sent  away,  showed  them  divided  into  the  following  groups : 

Number.  Per  Cent. 


Woodworkers   2,092  9.6 

Metalworkers   1,861  9.3 

Bldg.  Trades   1,618  7.9 

Printing  and  Lithography   168  .9 

Needle  Industry   3,967  19.8 

Leather  Industry   1,425  7.1 

Tobacco  Industry   150  .9 

Men  without  trades   6,575  32-7 

Dealers  in  fruit  supplies   729  3.7 

Farming   341  1.7 

Office  help,  professionals,  etc   622  3.1 

Miscellaneous   646  3.3 


CYRUS  L.  SULZBERGER 


229 


In  the  report  of  the  Industrial  Removal  Office  for  the  year  1906 
occurs  the  following  paragraph : 

Of  the  total  number  of  persons  sent  from  New  York,  about 
16,000  were  wage-earners,  the  remainder  being  the  women  and  the 
children  of  their  families.  What  the  activity  of  this  organization 
means  to  the  industrial  development  of  the  country  can  be  appre- 
ciated by  a  consideration  of  the  earnings  of  these  16,000  workers. 
Making  every  allowance  for  idle  time  and  judging  by  the  reports 
received  from  all  over  the  country  as  to  the  wages  paid  the  men, 
we  are  satisfied  that  they  are  annually  earning  a  sum  aggregating 
from  $8,000,000  to  $10,000,000  at  a  minimum,  and  are  adding 
in  that  ratio  to  the  productive  capacity  of  the  country.  According 
to  the  U.  S.  Census  report,  wages  constitute,  roughly  speaking,  20 
per  cent  of  the  finished  product,  and  it  is  therefore  evident  that 
the  proteges  of  this  office  are  producing  not  far  from  $50,000,000 
worth  of  goods  annually.  A  comparatively  small  part  of  this 
product  is  consumed  at  the  point  of  production ;  all  the  remainder 
is  necessarily  transported  upon  the  railroads  of  the  country  either 
for  home  consumption  or  for  the  swelling  of  our  foreign  commerce. 
Of  this  entire  army  of  producers  not  a  single  individual  was 
earning  his  living  at  the  time  this  office  sent  him  away. 

The  number  of  wage-earners  sent  away  being  now  50  per  cent 
greater  than  it  was  at  the  time  this  report  was  written,  the  other 
figures  are  also  subject  to  a  like  increase  of  50  per  cent,  and  it 
therefore  follows  that  the  amount  of  goods  now  annually  produced 
by  those  sent  from  New  York  by  the  Industrial  Removal  Office 
must  reach  not  far  from  $75,000,000. 

This  briefly  gives  the  story  of  the  work  of  the  Industrial  Re- 
moval Office,  and  I  may  say  that  the  success  of  the  entire  work 
rests  primarily  upon  the  organization  of  what  I  have  called  the 
reception  committees.  Without  such  committees  to  receive  and 
look  after  the  immigrant  upon  his  arrival  in  a  strange  town,  the 
whole  work  would  fail.  It  is  upon  the  assurance  that  a  friendly 
hand  of  welcome  will  be  extended  to  him  when  he  arrives  at  his 
destination,  that  the  immigrant  is  willing  to  move  on  to  an  unknown 


230  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

land.  New  York  city  with  its  cosmopolitan  population  enables 
even*  newcomer  to  find  himself  in  a  congenial  and  familiar  atmos- 
phere, and  it  is  the  dread  of  the  unknown  quite  as  much  as  tha 
attraction  of  New  York  that  holds  the  immigrant  here.  If 
then,  distribution  of  immigration  is  to  proceed  on  a  larger  scale,  I 
should  say  that  a  condition  precedent  would  be  the  organization 
of  committees  or  governmentally  the  appointment  of  honorary 
commissions.  Such  commissions  should  exist  in  every  industrial 
locality,  and  should  be  composed  as  far  as  possible  of  repre- 
sentative men  of  the  same  races  as  the  prevailing  immigrants, 
so  that  Italians  may  find  an  Italian,  Hungarians  a  Hungarian, 
and  Jews  a  Jew,  sympathetic  with  their  needs  and  prepared  to  aid 
them  with  friendly  advice. 

A  further  important  requirement  is  a  very  low  and  merely 
nominal  transportation  rate.  I  have  observed  in  the  sixth  annual 
report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Commerce  and  Labor  just  issued, 
a  recommendation  by  him  on  the  subject  of  cheaper  transportation 
for  the  unemployed.  He  advocates  a  "  labor  exchange  rate," 
(pages  23  and  24).  There  should  in  addition  to  such  labor  ex- 
change rate  be  an  immigrant  rate,  applying  only  from  the  sea- 
board but  not  to  it,  and  such  rates  should  be  very  much  lower  than 
the  existing  immigrant  rate,  which  is  10  per  cent  less  than  the 
usual  passenger  rate.  Immigrants  should  be  carried  from  the 
seaboard  at  a  rate  of  not  more  than  a  half  cent  per  mile,  and  while 
probably  the  cost  to  the  railroads  might  be  more  than  they  would 
thus  recover,  the  ultimate  result  would  inevitably  redound  to  their 
advantage.  The  carrying  of  an  immigrant  occurs  but  once. 
The  carrying  of  his  products  from  the  interior  point  of  production 
to  the  point  of  consumption  or  exportation  occurs  annually. 
According  to  the  United  States  Census  reports,  the  average  value 
of  the  product  of  each  industrial  worker  of  the  United  States  is 
about  $2,500,  and  as  very  little  of  this  is  consumed  at  the  point  of 
production  there  would  be  for  the  transportation  companies  goods 


CYRUS  L.  SULZBERGER  23 1 

to  the  value  of  more  than  $2,000  annually  to  be  transported  for 
every  immigrant  moved  from  New  York.  On  this  freight  ship- 
ment the  railroad  company  would  speedily  recoup  any  loss  that  it 
might  sustain  on  the  original  transportation  of  the  producer. 
Whether  the  establishment  of  such  transportation  rates  and  the 
appointment  of  such  commissions  is  a  matter  requiring  State  or 
Federal  action  is  a  question  which  it  is  not  for  me  to  determine. 

December  14,  1908. 


APPENDIX  XIII 
A  Partial  Bibliography 

ON  THE  SUBJECT  OF  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAUS 
The  literature  on  the  general  question  of  the  unemployed  is 
voluminous  and  this  list,  prepared  with  the  assistance  of  Mrs. 
Helen  Page  Bates,  does  not  intend  to  cover  it,  though  some  titles 
which  do  not  deal  primarily  with  labor  registries  are  included 
because  of  certain  chapters  or  paragraphs. 

In  the  case  of  official  publications  no  attempt  has  been  made 
to  present  a  complete  list,  but  only  those  documents  have  been 
included  which  have  been  accessible  for  reference  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  this  report. 

Abbott,  Grace:  "The  Chicago  Employment  Agency  and  the  Immi- 
grant Worker."  In  American  Journal  of  Sociology,  Novem- 
ber, 1908. 

Adler,  George:    " Arbeitsnachweis  und  Arbeitsborsen."   In  Hand- 

worterbuch  der  Staatswissenschaften,  3d  Ed.,  Jena,  1909, 

Bd.  1,  pp.  1130-40. 
"  Arbeitsmarkt,  Der,"  Monatschrift  des  Verbandes  Deutscher 

Arbeitsnachweise,  Berlin,  Dr.  J.  Jastrow,  Ed. 
"  Arbeitslosigkeit  und  Arbeitsvermittelung,"  Bericht  iiber  den 

Sozialen  Congress  in  Frankfurt  A.M.  (1893)."    Berlin,  1894. 

Ayres,  P.  W. :  " Free  Public  Employment  Offices  in  Ohio;  an  Experi- 
ment in  Socialistic  Legislation."  International  Congress  of 
Charities,  1893,  PP-  I24~3I- 

Bartram,  Charles  E. :  "  Free  Public  Employment  Offices."  National 
Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction,  1897,  PP-  207-17. 

Becci,  Gabriel:  "Le  Placement  des  Ouvriers  et  Employes  des 
deux  Sexes  et  des  Toutes  Professions  et  la  Loi  du  14  Mars, 
1904,"  221  pp.  O.  Paris,  Rousseau,  1906. 

232 


A  PARTIAL  BIBLIOGRAPHY  233 

Beveridge,  W.  H. :  "  Curse  of  Casual  Labor."  In  Socialist  Review, 
June,  1908. 

"Labour  Exchanges."  11  pp.  1907.    To  be  obtained  from  the 

Central  (Unemployed)  Body,  165  Temple  Chambers,  Temple 

Avenue,  London,  E.  C. 
"Labor  Exchanges  and  the  Unemployed."    In  Economic  Journal, 

March,  1907,  "pp.  66-81. 
"  Unemployment  and  Its  Cure :  The  First  Step."    In  Contemporary 

Review,  April,  1908,  pp.  385-98. 

Bliss:    Cyclopedia  of  Social  Reform,  1908.    Article  on  "Unem- 
ployment," pp.  1234-47. 
"Uselessness  of  Labor  Colonies,"  pp.  1246-7. 

Bliss,  W.  D.  P.:  "What  is  Done  for  the  Unemployed  in  European 
Countries."  United  States  Bureau  of  Labor,  Bulletin  76, 
May,  1908,  pp.  741-933- 

Bogart,  E.  L. :  "Public  Employment  Offices  in  United  States  and 
Germany."  In  Commons,  Trade  Unionism  and  Labor 
Problems,  1905,  p.  603-26;  also  in  Quarterly  Journal  of 
Economics,  vol.  19,  May,  1900,  pp.  341-77. 

Bohmert:  "Zur  Statistik  der  Arbeitslosigkeit,  der  Arbeitsvermit- 
telung  u.  s.  w."  In  der  Zeitschrift  des  sachsischen  Bureaus, 
Jahrg.,  1894. 

Brooks,  John  Graham:  "Future  Problem  of  Charity  and  the  Un- 
employed." 27  pp.  1895.  American  Academy  of  Political 
and  Social  Science  Publications,  122. 

Burns,  John:  "Unemployed."  1892  (Fabian  Tracts,  No.  47).  Bib- 
liography, p.  19.  Reprint  from  Nineteenth  Century,  December, 
1892. 

Byles,  A.  Holden :  "German  Labour  Bureaus."  In  Progress,  April, 
1906,  pp.  106-15. 

Chance,  Sir  William :  "Poor  Law  and  the  Unemployed."  In  Poor 
Law  Conferences,  1905-6  pp.  134-47. 

Chapman,  Sydney  J.:  "Work  and  Wages."  Pt.  11,  Chapter  on 
Unemployment,  London,  Longmans,  1908. 

Clay,  Arthur:  "Unemployment  and  Legislation."  In  London 
Charity  Organisation  Review,  May;  1905,  pp.  255-67. 


234  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

Conner,  J.  E. :  "Free  Public  Employment  Offices  in  United  States." 
United  States  Bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  No.  68,  Jan- 
uary, 1007.  pp.  1-115. 

Conrad,  Carl:  "Die  Organisation  des  Arbeitsnachweises  in  Deutsch- 
land."    Leipzig,  1904. 

Cormier,  Crosson  du:  "Les  Caisses  Syndicales  de  Chomage  en 
France  et  en  Belgique."    Paris,  Chevalier.  1905. 

Dawson,  William  H.:    "Problem  of  the  Unemployed."    In  Social 

Switzerland,  1897,  PP-  I3°-42- 
"Unemployed."    In  German  Workman,  1906,  pp.  1-86.  Chap. 
1.  Labour  Registries.    Chap.  2,  Munich  Labour  Bureaus. 

Devins,  John  Bancroft:  "Report  of  the  Cooper  Union  Labor 
Bureau."  New  York  Association  for  Improving  the  Condi- 
tion of  Poor,  Report  1900,  pp.  81-88. 

Dewey,  Davis  R.:  "Irregularity  of  Employment."  American  Eco- 
nomic Association.    Publication  No.  5-6,  1894,  pp.  53-67. 

Drage,  Geoffrey:  "Problem  of  the  Unemployed."  New  York, 
Macmillan,  1894. 

Eckert :    "Der  moderne  Arbeitsnachweis,"  Leipzig,  1902. 

Faquot,  F. :  "Le  Chomage."  210  pp.  Paris,  Soc.  nouvelle  de 
librarie  et  d'  edition,  1905. 

France,  Government  Publications:    "Ministere  de  Commerce  et 
de  l'Industrie — Office  du  Travail.    Le  Placement  des  Employes 
Ouvriers  et  Domestiques  en  France:  son  Histoire,  son  Etat 
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"Report,  1901."    188  pp. 

"Documents  sur  la  Question  du  Chomage."  398  pp.  27m.  Paris, 
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of  Labor,  Bui.  12,  September,  1897,  PP-  622—24. 

Great  Britain,  Government  Publications :  "Report  of  Commission 
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1895. 

"Report  of  Select  Committee  on  Distress  from  Want  of  Employ- 
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index.    118  pp.  F.  London,  Eyre.  1896. 


A  PARTIAL  BIBLIOGRAPHY 


235 


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Government  Board."    32  p.   F.   London.    Darling.  1906. 

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of  Distress  Committees  in  England  and  Wales  and  of  the 

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London,  Wyman. 
"Annual  Reports  of  the  Local  Government  Boards  of  England 

and  Wales,  of  Scotland,  and  of  Ireland,  1905  to  date,  for 

Proceedings  of  Distress  Committees  under  the  Unemployed 

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with  the  Unemployed,  1893."    By  D.  F.  Schloss,  which  see. 
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Minutes  of  Proceedings  at  Conferences,  held  Feb.  13,  April 

3,  1903  (No.  662).    50  pp.  F.  London. 
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the  Work  of  the  Central  Body  from  May  12,  1906,  to  June 

30,  1907,"    149  pp.  London.    King,  1908. 

Hall,  Prescott  F. :  "The  Effects  of  Immigration  on  Unemployment." 
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Herz,  Hugo:  " Arbeitsscheu  und  recht  auf  Arbeit;  kritische  Beitrage 
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Hobson,  John  A. :    "Problem  of  the  Unemployed."  1896. 

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Kellor,  Frances  A.:  "Out  of  Work."  1905.  Free  employment 
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236  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

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238  AN  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  FOR  NEW  YORK 

Annual  Reports  of  the  Free  Public  Employment  Bureaus,  State 
and  Municipal,  which  have  been  Established  or  Authorized 
in  the  following  States:  California  municipal  bureaus  (1893); 
Colorado  (1907);  Connecticut  (1901);  Illinois  (1899);  Kan- 
sas (1901);  Maryland  (1902);  Massachusetts  (1906);  Michi- 
gan (1905);  Minnesota  (1905);  Missouri  (1898);  Montana 
municipal  bureaus  (1895);  Nebraska  (1897);  New  York 
(1896,  abolished  1906);  Ohio  (1890);  Washington  municipal 
bureaus  (1899);  West  Virginia  (1900);  Wisconsin  (1899); 
(Some  of  the  free  employment  bureaus  publish  weekly  or  bi- 
weekly bulletins  or  gazettes.) 

"Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor."  Report  for 
1893.  See  Wadlin.  Report  for  1903,  pp.  13 1-2 14.  Free 
Employment  Offices  in  the  United  States  and  Foreign  Coun- 
tries. 

"Bulletin  51."  July-August,  1907,  pp.  36-40.   Free  Employment 
Offices  in  Foreign  Countries. 
Reports  and  Bulletins  of  the  State  Bureaus  of  Labor  for  Current 
Information  in  Regard  to  Unemployment  in  Organized  Trades. 

Wadlin,  Horace  G. :  "Unemployment."    In  the  24th  Annual  Report 

of  the  Mass.  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor,  1893. 

Western  Australia :    Government  Labor  Bureau.    "Annual  Reports 
of  Superintendent,"  1898  to  date. 

Willoughby,  William  F. :    "Employment  Bureaus  in  the  United 
States."    16  pp.    Monographs  on  American  Social  Econo- 
mics, No.  6,  1900. 
"Measurement  of  Unemployment."    In  Yale  Review,  August, 
1901,  pp.  188-202;  November,  1901,  pp.  268-97. 

Wright,  Harold  O.  S. :    "Sociological  View  of  Unemployment."  In 
Westminster  Review,  April,  1908,  pp.  376-92. 


